Hellsing: Eradication
by Skryr
Summary: My own retelling of Hellsing, loosely based on both the original anime and Hellsing Ultimate. It does include an original character (I promise not to make it a Mary Sue catastrophe!), but I will attempt to keep it as close to the established canon as possible. Romance planned in future chapters. Rated M for violence and some touchy-feely parts. (it's Hellsing. What did you expect?)
1. Chapter I

HELLSING: ERADICATION

CHAPTER I

Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing, Hellsing Ultimate, or Hellsing Ultimate Abridged. The works are of their respective authors, and they are way more awesome than I am!

Go support the official release... (cue Jan: you know you want to)

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Seras Victoria was not happy.

It had been a depressing day already, what with the mass of paperwork, unenthusiastic coworkers and the psychotic murderer on the loose across the countryside. But these things were not making Seras unhappy. Well, _much_.

Nor was it the fact that she and an overly flirtatious coworker had been sent by their idiot of a police chief to find said murderer in a small and barely populated village in a rural backwater area.

No, it had been that it was raining that made Seras unhappy.

For most people, rain was just a natural thing of the weather, similar to sunshine or the winds. To others, rain was good, fertilizing crops and watering a beautiful landscape, or what have you.

To others still, rain was an immense annoyance: probing an area that had been rained on was a frustrating toil, or investigating a crime scene where all feasible evidence had been washed away was nigh-on impossible.

However, Seras, of course, hated rain for an entirely different reason altogether. A reason that had plagued her forever and then some. A reason that was so terribly ancient in her mind while horribly fresh that she had yet to tell anyone of it, though she relived the nightmares every time she went to sleep.

Six years ago, at her own humble homestead, a tragic event she would ever remember had occurred that threatened to warp all her future. It had been raining then; a cloudy night in the small village of Cheddar had normally meant nothing to her. As usual, Seras had curled up in her bed to go to sleep; trying to clear her head from her parents' raised voices downstairs. Normally, her beloved mother and father never argued, at least, no that Seras could remember.

But more recently, she noticed that yelling amongst her family was becoming more and more commonplace. It had come unexpectedly, of course. A strange letter had arrived in the mail at their doorstep one afternoon, leaving her parents livid, though Seras had not the faintest idea why.

This had also led to an increasingly odd series of arguments in which Seras heard her own name come up quite a bit. But as she had mediated on this that night, a sound interrupted her reverie. It was a hybrid of a yell of fury and a dog's call reverberating in her skull, a low, bass noise that would forever haunt her memory of that event.

This was followed by screams of horror, a door cracking open, and a peculiar swiping noise that Seras could not identify at the time, though hindsight could fill in the gaps. The rest had happened in a flash: a horrible thumping noise as the thing that had entered her house ran upstairs, the sounds of a police siren, and the blurred questions of the paramedics. But Seras did not register any of this, nor anything else, until she was plopped unceremoniously into an orphanage some time later.

That was the moment where everything had begun to fit into place. Seras had realized that the traumatic event had been the murder of her own parents, she had realized that she had no family left, and that her life had no idea where to go or what to do.

But as she realized this, she was overcome with anger, regret, and despair all at once. How could she survive? She was just a kid! And she didn't have anything to call her own, save a locket of her parents (that she had somehow saved in the chaos), and the clothes on her back. She didn't even know _who_ had killed her parents, which effectively staved off her need for revenge.

Though, perhaps… it ultimately was a fool's errand, even to her childish mind, but really, what other option had she left? She had requested when one of the social workers had arrived a few months later that she wanted to leave the orphanage.

To everyone's surprise, the initial shock of letting a girl barely out of Junior High join the police force was incredibly strange. Though many wondered why she had wanted to join at all, more still wondered why the police would admit her.

Granted, she did not see any missions, or dangerous ones anyway, and they had merely trained her in the police compound until all too recently, but she had shown remarkable resilience, so they had finally elected to letting her prove herself.

Among all of these events, the thought that made the record suggested Seras had enlisted in the police department as a result of her traumatic childhood (which it partly was), and that her quest against evil with justice for the innocent had driven her to become and enforcer of the law.

This had almost (almost being the key word) made Seras burst into laughter when she had first seen it. Ultimately, she decided to let them think that she had no ulterior motives for joining. It was probably for the best that they knew not of her intentions. Truth be told, justice indeed was a reason. However, her call of revenge had only been diminished in the orphanage.

And if she could help it, the blood of her parents would not go unanswered for.

All of this went through Seras' mind as the police car sped on down the gloomy winding road. She was nine teen now; not nearly the naïve and innocent little girl she had been when her parents had been murdered.

And now, returning to the lonely village of Cheddar six years later… all of her memories of that night and come flooding back.

"Are we there yet?" Seras was growing more impatient. The prospect of searching her old home after all this time – and better yet with a gun in her hand – was growing steadily, however delusional, making her irate. Thankfully, her coworker did not notice.

"Just a few minutes now Seras." Her partner chuckled. She thought that her whining probably reminded him of one of the myriad of female friends he imagined her to be, despite her continuous protests to the contrary.

"Fine." She answered, returning to staring out at the window. She knew this road too well anyway. Constant drives to her house from the city had been ingrained in her mind's eye.

As the car further drove on, Seras went through the mission briefing in her head. A suspected killer (ha) had been last seen in the small village and no one from the local law enforcement office had reported suspicious activity. In fact, they had reported nothing at all, which, rather ironically, _was_ suspicious activity.

After seemingly futile arguments that a mere two police officers who obviously couldn't co-operate with each other was not an adequate solution, the chief had consented to sending backup if they hadn't returned within the hour. This had not helped Seras' mood at all.

The car stopped abruptly, interrupted her thoughts.

"We're here. Ready?" Seras nodded. She was born ready for this moment. Checking her pistol, she opened the side door and stepped out of the cruiser.

She was quite unprepared for the wave of utter silence that crashed on them as they walked to the clearing of the village. Either Cheddar had dramatically changed since her childhood, or no one in the entire area had cared that a police cruiser had shown up in the middle of the night.

No, something was wrong. _Very_ wrong. Seras looked around for her partner, squinted to see his name tag and remembering his name was Arnold, and motioned for him to follow her.

They moved into the middle of the clearing, between the rural houses. Seeing not one light in any of the buildings, Seras felt an intense sense of ominous dread. This was only multiplied when her eyes spotted _that_ place.

"Let's… split up." She called to Arnold, who had apparently been shamelessly wasting time staring at her rather than their surroundings. He looked up at her words. "Huh? Oh, yeah, OK." He gestured to a nearby shack, even more run down than Seras had remembered it being, and headed for it. "I'll search this one." Ignoring him, Seras marched towards the building that had once been her home.

Upon reaching the threshold, she also ignored the feeling of sick curiosity in her stomach, and pushed open the frighteningly unlocked door.

The living room presented itself to her just as she remembered it. The modest room boasted a small couch, coffee table, and a television set always revealing her parents' obsession with retro style. Seras noticed that other than the thick covering of dust over everything, the sight was eerily reminiscent of that relaxing summer day.

Seras walked through the room where her parents had died. She looked away for a light switch, flicked it, and to her surprise it turned on. What was more surprising, more in the raw shock value than anything else, was the fact that the blood spattering she could now see was in fact over almost everything.

Focusing on this previously unidentifiable detail, Seras wondered if the police had even bothered to clean the investigation site years ago.

But as soon as she thought this, another question became apparent. The police _did_ clean it, and this blood was actually dripping from the walls, as though it had just been… spilled…

Seras spun around, drawing her pistol. Her heart pounding, she ran to the clearing, her mind screaming at her to run away. "Arnold! Arnold?!" She called out, fearing an expected response.

She was unbelievably relieved to find his voice call back, though under any other circumstances she would have been horrified. "Seras? Is that you? What is it?" But her good feeling was quickly cut short.

As Arnold came running from the house he had occupied, Seras beheld a sight that her eyes did not recognize. A shape, most hideous in its form, was perched on the rooftop. Behind that, in the rows of shrubbery, dozens upon dozens of bright red eyes blinked into existence.

Seras cried out in fear. They were the same eyes she had seen in her nightmares.

Arnold, comically in hindsight, seemed to realize that something deadly was behind him, turning, he glimpsed the horde of red eyes just only before something tackled him.

Seras screamed, realizing the thing on the rooftops had jumped onto Arnold, and began firing her pistol at the creature, which apparently had little to no effect in impeding its damage, until it looked up, and Seras screamed again.

Though the red eyes were quite unnerving, the way they dilated with Arnold's blood splattered on its teeth, but the rest of the creature was worse. It looked humanoid, but terribly deformed, scars and other gruesome wounds pitting on its tattered skin.

As she noticed this, Seras stepped back from it, yet her horror only increased as the horde of red eyes all transformed into similarly maimed figures stepping out of the bush. However, something stranger and oddly more menacing caught her attention.

A tall, black figure emerged from the darkness behind the horde. As it entered the moonlight, Seras discovered it to be what evidently used to be a man, though he too had crimson eyes, his mouth already giving away his cannibalism. Upon seeing Seras however, the figure's eyes blinked, and transformed from the ominous red to be replaced by a more human blue colour.

The man then smiled, a remotely passing qualification with the bloodied teeth, but still a smile nonetheless.

"Welcome, little girl." Seras was surprised that the thing-that-used-to-be-human could speak coherent English, much less with the thick and halting accent that she could not place.

"It seems that you have stumbled out here. And why would you do that? It is dangerous for women in the dark." The man edged closer, uncomfortably close to Seras now, and she could now smell him, a disgusting odor akin to a corpse pile. She winced.

"Especially with _vampires_ out in the night." Seras' breath hitched. The accent, blood, everything fit together. Of course she had heard of vampires; hell, everyone in the whole bloody country had heard of them, but she hadn't thought they were real. Surely, she told herself, that they're just stories to scare off kids, whenever she thought of it.

But now, face to face with a real one…

The vampire stepped even closer. Seras realized he was wearing a suit, stained, but otherwise respectable, for a vampire anyway. She did not ponder the cause of such a choice of attire, however, for an even more ominous thing shot through the air.

It was a sound not unlike a gunshot, though much more audible and reverberating as it flew, and though Seras thought she was hearing things, it seemed to be screaming.

A nearby monster's head exploded tremendously, viscera and blood shooting out of the cavity as the mutilated body collapsed. More shots, and more of the monsters perished in similar fashion, slumping to the ground as though dolls without their puppeteer.

The vampire visibly lost his nerve.

"What the hell is-?" He was cut off as his arm suddenly flew from his shoulder. He staggered, but just as suddenly, his blood stopped spilling, and his arm began to regrow in front of Seras' eyes, first a mere stump, then an elbow, and into a full arm.

Seras grimaced, and peered into the direction that the gunshots had come from. What she was as almost as startling as the event itself.

Another tall figure approached them, though it was much different than the vampire. The newcomer was clad in a red fedora, and adorned in an equally red coat and suit. The figure also wore paled white gloves with words scrawled on them that Seras could not see.

As the figure came closer still, Seras attempted to look at its face, which was mostly obscured by the looming fedora, when the vampire grabbed her across the middle.

Ignoring her almost entirely henceforth, the vampire procured a pistol from his suit pocket, and leveled it at her head, only to hear another ripping sound, and the arm of the vampire holding the pistol was again blow off.

Hissing, the vampire gripped Seras harder, while she struggled to look at the approaching figure. Realization hit her as the spotted two over sized handguns present in the figure's hands, one of which was smoking lightly. Then the vampire spoke.

"Who are you?" The walking figure stopped abruptly, before letting forth a deep rumble, which Seras assumed was a laugh. Then, it responded in a booming and low voice.

"Who I am is not the question. The only question worth asking now is who _you_ are and your purpose in being here." The figure leveled the gun in its left hand at the vampire. "And were I you, I would begin talking swiftly."

The vampire hissed again, before adopting a smirk similar to his previous one as some of the monsters Seras had seen earlier arrived from the forest background into the clearing.

"I am the local vampire around here, and I have to say, the resistance I have found is quite…" He paused, and his tone dropped menacingly. "…_pathetic_."

"As you can undoubtedly tell, mostly everyone around here is dead." At this, the figure made a sound similar to a snarl.

"You killed them? All of them? For…" The word seemed to escape the figure. "…fun?" The vampire chuckled. "All but this one." He gestured to Seras.

"But I plan to kill her too." Seras gulped. "But first, I'm going to rape her." Seras felt the sweat fall down her back at his words, shuddering. "It will be _delicious_."

"But before I can do any of that, I'm going to kill _you_!" He sneered at the figure, who scoffed, lowering his weapons.

"Ah. I _knew_ we were going to encounter that little snag." The vampire hissed for the umpteenth time.

"Snag? What kind of snag?" The figure raised his head, allowing Seras to finally glimpse his face. She saw now that the figure's skin was as pale as his gloved hands, and were his eyes should have been were googles with brilliant orange lenses.

The figure seemed to grin. Evilly. "Yes. You see, I came here to kill a vampire, not a wanton cannibal. Would you know of any vampires around here?"

"Are you mocking me?" The figure grinned wider.

"No. Why on earth would I do that?"

And then there was a flash of light, a blare of sound, and Seras fell backwards to the ground, pain searing in her chest. Pain that the likes of which she had never felt before.

She struggled to remain conscious. The agony was unbearable. What had happened?

She opened her eyes to an unpleasant. The red figure was looming over her, though with an odd expression on his features.

"Sorry about that." Seras was confused, but more alarmed than anything else. She tried to crawl away, but collapsed against the pain. "Get... away…" She gasped for breath against the pain. "You… monster…"

The figure remained still, unreadable, but when he spoke, he sounded sad. "I can help you, little police girl. You can still live." Seras could not believe what she heard.

"Either you can die as a human…" The figure grimaced. "Or you can live… as a vampire."

Seras looked away, her mind struggling to think despite the anvil of pain crushing her. If she lived, her parents could be avenged. But…

"Why…me…?" She wondered, fighting desperately to stay awake. She needed to know, needed to know why, or what-

"You have a spirit, little girl. A fighting spirit that few of your kind possess. That is why I ask you if you want this." Seras felt an impulse. "N-no… I… can't… just… do it! Do it!"

The figure remained impassive. "Very well. Forgive me, but this will hurt rather substantially."

Then, all Seras could register was a blinding pain in her neck before everything became darkness.

Seras was in a dream.

She was surrounded by her family. They all had the same loving expressions that she always remembered them having.

But then they all disappeared. The dream fell into blackness, save for one lone light shining in the abyss, just a little ways from Seras. She felt an intense urge, a _need_ to get to the light. She started to crawl, immense pain ripping through her again, but crawled.

Inch by inch, she reached it! She touched the light, and the pain worsened. What had happened? Weren't lights supposed to be good?

But then she heard a voice, distinctly female, whisper into the darkness.

"Welcome to Hellsing, little Draculina."

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So, what do you think? Rate and review!


	2. Chapter II

HELLSING: ERADICATION

CHAPTER II

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own anything except for the new character I added. And he's still part of the universe that was created by (guess who) NOT ME!

So, yeah, I don't own any of this. Hellsing, Hellsing Ultimate, Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, etc.

Enjoy Chapter II!

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Seras blinked, and immediately sat up.

Where was she? Was she in heaven? Or hell?

Was she even dead?

She focused her eyes, and found herself in a bedroom. Peering around, a residential bedroom upon further inspection, complete with dresser and mirror in all.

Seras looked at the mirror, and saw her reflection staring back at her. She was wearing her police uniform, cleaned and ironed, and other than her blonde hair and fair skin being a shade paler than usual, the same as she always had been.

This brought about the query as to why she was not bleeding profusely. Assuming that her memory of the wracking pain and rabid vampires were not some kind of psychoactive drug-induced nightmare, then she should have been in ridiculous torment. After all, a gunshot to the breast, especially one that could decapitate the ghoulish creatures, was bound to leave an unwelcome lasting impression.

Seras then unbuttoned her shirt, looked down, and made three startling discoveries:  
1) She had no noticeable wounds.

2) She was not wearing anything underneath.

3) Someone was laughing at her.

Before she could begin to feel embarrassed, a voice in her mind that was not hers resounded in her thoughts. "It was the other one." Instinctively, Seras was about to check again, but another voice, this one feminine, though raspy, spoke now. "Idiot. He's in your mind."

Realization crashed on Seras. She hastily rebuttoned her shirt, and looked around, locating the laughing figure. It was in fact the red clad figure that had offered to turn her into a vampire. How she did not notice him before hand, she did not know.

The figure ceased his amusement, though still grinning, and tipped his hat. "Good morning, police girl. It is good to see you awake instead of thrashing around in your nightmares." Seras was still flustered, but did not dare show it, lest she be laughed at again.

"Well… who are you? And why am I here?" Before the red figure could respond, the door behind him opened suddenly, allowing a newcomer entry.

"His name is Alucard." The person who walked into the room was distinctly female, though Seras questioned why she was wearing a man's business suit. Focusing on her face, Seras spotted wide-rimmed glasses accompanied by dark blonde hair that cascaded in length across her shoulders.

"And I am Sir Integra Hellsing, of the Hellsing organization."

"Sir? But you're-oh." Seras began, but stopped herself upon seeing the sigil of the knighthood stitched onto Sir Integra's shoulder.

Sir Integra smiled quietly, causing Seras to feel immense relief. "Relax. Alucard will explain everything." She looked at him, somewhat pointedly, if Seras could judge, and he spoke.

"Little police girl, you are now a vampire as I-" Seras interrupted him hotly. "Wait. Now? Really? How can you te-oh…" At that moment, Alucard procured a small bag from his coat pocket, and the strangest things happened henceforth.

Seras did not know what came over her. All of the sudden, her vision turned red as she sighted the bag, which she somehow knew must contain blood. As this realization became apparent, something she could describe only as 'primal' overtook her. She could smell it, could almost _taste_ ti even, and found her mouth drooling and hurting simultaneously.

Looking into the mirror with her distorted perception, she discovered her four incisor teeth, or _fangs_ she guessed, were elongating as the blood bag in Alucard's hands lingered. The desire to take the bag and feast from it became an intense drive, a _longing_.

Lazily, he threw the bag, and Seras jumped a little to catch it as it flew to her. Ripping it open, she sank her teeth into it, feeling cold and viscous, though possessing a rich quality that she found immediately satisfying.

As she finished the bag, the smell of blood vanished, and her world returned to full colour, leaving her flabbergasted and speechless. "What… did I just…" She looked incomprehensibly at the pair of figures, gasping. In return, Alucard smirked.

"Like I said, you, police girl, are now a-" She interrupted him again, this time out of habit, remembering the ill-fated Arnold doing something similar on a regular basis, and before she could stop herself, retorted. "I have a name! It's Seras! And- oh, sorry…" But Alucard continued as though she had not spoken at all.

"-brand new addition to the vampire ranks of the Hellsing organization. More importantly, you have become my fledgling." Seras felt herself display a blank stare, which Alucard took as a look of confusion. "It means that you shall obey my every command unquestioningly."

Surprisingly, Seras did not find this unsettling. Rather, she answered promptly, most likely out of a strange new found respect than anything else. "Yes… master?" She defaulted to this due to the lack of knowledge of any other title, though Alucard gave no inclination otherwise.

He appeared satisfied by this response, and then disappeared into a myriad of darkness and geometric shapes. Apparently, this was normal, as Sir Integra began speaking forthwith, still smiling lightly.

"Before you do anything else, I would have a word with you. Accompany me to my office."

Upon reaching the office, Seras had the feeling that she could begin asking questions to her heart's content.

"So, what _is_ Hellsing, exactly?" Sir Integra nodded. "A fair question. Allow me to explain."

"Originally, Hellsing's founder, Abram van Hellsing, was a vampire hunter, having learned all he knew from the very first vampire hunter of the time, Brahm Stoker, and after he defeated Count Dracula, the Queen called upon his experience when other supernatural threats invaded the kingdom of England."

Seras became confused. "But there are vampires _here_. Are we supposed to-"

Integra cut her off with a laugh. "All in good time, Miss Victoria. Anyways, after van Hellsing had a son, he passed all his knowledge of the vampire kind down to the family, until everyone of his descendants could slay vampires as he could."

She paused before continuing. "But… the Queen had then begun to demand more of… _our_ kind of combat against the supernatural, which led to other branches of what was to become 'The Guard'. As all co-operations do, they _disagreed_ with our methods."

"In time, especially during Hellsing's operation under Friedrich van Hellsing, our philosophy of 'fighting fire with fire' was beginning to be considered 'corrupting influence'."

"Bear in mind, Miss Victoria, that the Guard was thought to be nothing less than the new Crusader's Army. And seeing as how vampires were spawns of Satan, anything less than slaying them mercilessly in God's holy name was borderline heresy."

Seras took a deep breath. "Are you telling me God is real?" Sir Integra smiled, though perhaps with a hint of an unrecognizable grimace. "That would depend on your _view_, now wouldn't it?" Seras had no answer to that.

Integra continued. "As a vampire, you are a unique addition to Hellsing. We've had, of course, several vampires in our employ previously, but you are a rather special case." Seras frowned.

"Why's that?" Integra returned her frown. "Well, you are the first fledgling Alucard has taken. Ever." This had little to no effect on Seras. "So?"

"Alucard is old. Even for a vampire, he has lived a _long_ time. He was the strongest vampire when my grandfather ruled Hellsing. And that was almost two centuries ago." Seras' face betrayed the surprise at these words, though Integra merely grinned.

"Like our resident vampires, Hellsing's family members tend to, as they say, 'stick around'."

She returned to her poker face. "As I was saying, a vampire tends to frighten our human soldiers, as well as civilians. That cannot be allowed to happen. For all that the world needs to know, you are just a very talented mercenary that is under the employ of Hellsing to defend England against her enemies."

Though Seras was still confused, she guessed that Integra was done talking. "Don't worry. When I took over Hellsing, I wasn't even your age. It'll sink in soon enough." She led Seras to the door.

"Go now. Our butler, Walter, will show you up to your quarters. Training with Alucard begins tomorrow morning." As Seras left, she heard Integra's faint last word. "Good bye and good luck, Miss Victoria."

Seras accompanied Walter to the dormitory hall, climbed reluctantly into a small coffin present, and went to sleep as though it was something she did every day.

Seras awoke the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed, given her almost death and lack of proper sleep. Though she did not understand it, she just knew that the coffin felt as familiar and right to her as knowing how to write, or how to eat a meal.

Speaking of such, Seras located a bag attached to the door of her room, similar to the one Alucard had given her the previous day. Only this time, the ravenous hunger for such did not overcome her, merely her fangs elongated as she picked up the bag and casually drank of its contents.

Her appetite satiated for the moment, Seras yawned luxuriously and stretched, then walked out into the hallway. The decorum in the Hellsing estate was quite exquisite, especially given the nature of its inhabitants.

Seras strolled through the various halls, occasionally coming across some armed guards patrolling some areas, though they paid her no attention. She eventually reached a rather grand looking stairwell, leading down to the lowest level of the estate.

She walked down the steps, noting the location for future reference, and then found an ornate set of doors. Pushing them open, she encountered a blinding sensation of light, followed by a harsh pain scorch her skin. Backing into the room, she quickly closed the door.

She heard walking behind her, and turned to see the butler Walter appear again. Having not seen him properly the last time in his acquaintance, she examined him as he approached her. Dressed in a gray-white suit, the man was tall, not as impressive as Alucard's towering height, but tall nonetheless, his dark hair tied in a neat pony tail and his face adorned with a monocle.

"Miss Victoria. I was instructed to give you this. It will provide temporary immunity to the effects of the sun." In his hand he carried another blood bag, which he gave to her. She examined, and upon opening it was overwhelmed by its smell, which was distinctly different than that of the other two bags she had consumed earlier.

"It is old blood, Miss Victoria. It should provide protection long enough for Master Alucard's use of you today." With that, he left her to her business. Seras drank of the bag, an even more odd taste dripping into her mouth, and then walked to the large open doors of the central courtyard, tossing the bag into a trash bin as she went.

She had heard that vampires were, in essence, allergic to sunlight, but had not realized exactly how much it affected them. It was as if she had stepped into an infinitely brighter and blinding world, but thankfully the butler's protective blood spared her as he said it would. Or at least, she didn't _feel_ like she was on fire, at any rate.

Seras scanned the immediate vicinity, and located Alucard flanked by two other figures. She approached, and looked at both of them. On Alucard's left was a tall man, though he did not compare to Alucard's towering height, was nevertheless impressive. He was an old man, if he his aged face and lengthy scarring accompanied by stitches were any indication, though these obscured most of the man's features.

On his equivalently normal side, what seemed to Seras to be a permanent scowl was in place. The man seemed edgy, both between Alucard himself, the figure on his right side, and Seras herself as she had approached.

Turning her attention to the other figure, Seras realized that he was less of a man and more of a boy, similar in age to her own, if she had to guess. He seemed positively different, and she wondered if he too was a vampire.

It was almost as if she could _smell_ something strange about him, almost like an aura. She had sensed the power that radiated from Alucard, and the fear from that vampire in Cheddar, and this boy too, she felt something else… was it anger?

The boy's features were generally unremarkable, however. Unruly, albeit short black hair adorned his head, which matched the dark eyes and similarly dark attire that he wore. Additionally, Seras noticed that the boy seemed very uncomfortable, distrustful of everyone in attendance as the old man did.

"Ah, police girl!" Alucard said, turning to face her, interrupting her thoughts. She felt herself frown. "Training is soon to begin! Let me introduce some important persons for your knowledge!"

"This gentleman is Sir Everett, and he will be your trainer outside of myself. He is human, but is a veteran of considerable experience." He looked at the scarred man appreciatively before turning to the boy.

"And this is your competition! I present, Alik Roth, another fledgling to keep you company! Alik, this is Seras Victoria." Alik extended his hand with noticeable reluctance, and Seras took it. All the while, Alik's eyes squinted as though the proceedings were annoying him.

Alucard remained oblivious. "Training begins! Follow Sir Everett to the grounds, and you will begin. Obey his instructions as though they were my own. Good day." And he vanished in a shower of shadows.

Seras and Alik followed Everett as he began to walk. When he finally did speak, Seras found his voice to be much gruffer and more syncopated than she had expected. "You will learn to utilize your vampiric abilities and any special weapons that Master Alucard gives you in this area."

He approached a computer terminal, pressed a sequence of buttons, and a row of training dummies surfaced in a pit of sand behind them. Seras saw that both she and Alik were surprised and somewhat suspicious of the dummies. Could it be that easy?

"Now: attack the dummies!" Seras remained still, unsure if it was a trap, but heard movement and saw Alik running towards a dummy, and with a kick dismembered it.

Not to be outdone, Seras ran to the nearest dummy and punched it tentatively, and was surprised at her own strength as the dummy split in two. Turning around, she saw that Alik had already finished with about five more dummies, and she began rapidly attacking the remaining ones.

Moments later, all of the dummies lay destroyed in the sand, and the two fledglings walked back to Sir Everett, who surveyed them with a look of expressionless boredom. "Excellent. Now you are to repeat the exercise again, but now with an… extra incentive."

Throwing a switch and pressing more buttons, more dummies were raised by Sir Everett, and this time, Seras was surprised to see that blood was spattered on the chests of the dummies. She felt her vampire instincts begin to race, and credited it to the sun's presence as an increased need for the sanguine.

Barely before her fangs were elongated, she heard a low growl, and turned to see Alik. His eyes were dilated and a shade of scarlet, fangs extended, and he sprinted to a dummy, colliding with it and stooping to devour the blood.

Seras felt the urges overtake her as she ran to the nearest dummy and in similar fashion destroyed it and consuming the wanted liquid scattered about its torso. After a few more moments, one dummy was left unscathed and still standing, rather ironically in the middle of the sand pit. Alik and Seras seemed o realized this simultaneously.

They stood, and faced each other through narrowed eyes. They paced in a circle over the dummy, and then they both charged. The dummy was destroyed instantly, the blood spilled onto the sand. Seras heard the strange and raspy female voice in her head again as she saw the blood. "_Kill him, take the blood."_

She felt an unnatural surge of anger at being denied the blood. She spoke, and even to her the voice that was heard was distorted. "Back off. It's mine." At this, Alik's eyes widened at the 'audacity' of Seras, to which he responded in a low and harsh baritone. "Die!"

He charged at her, but she narrowly avoided it with a sidestep, and he fell into the sand. She turned as he stood, and he charged again, this time succeeding in knocking her down. She punched at his chest, which was enough to send him a few feet away, though he recovered as fast as she did.

She picked up the offensive, attempting with a lunge to bit Alik with her fangs, but he was too fast and somehow anticipated this. In one motion, Alik gripped Seras and threw her to the side, leaving her spitting out sand as he knelt to drink the blood.

Seeing him doing so, Seras felt the anger revive itself, and leaped at him, pinning him to the ground, but he retaliated as she had done earlier and pushed her off of him, sending her sprawling. Alik tried to return to the pool of blood, but Seras ran towards him yet again, intent on retrieving the blood.

He stood as she reached him. Seras shot out an arm to punch him, to offset him if anything else, but to her surprise Alik's own arm gripped hers, and suddenly, she felt searing pain go through her.

She stumbled, fell backwards, and laid still in the sand. She felt immense pain, but she did not know why. And then she heard things. A ripping sound, and something dripping. What she saw and heard did not match, and this confused her even more.

Her vision blurred. The pain was excruciating. She peered around and saw… an arm? Was it hers? Seras did not know, could not think about it. Blackness threatened to overwhelm her, and she tried to stay awake…

But then her eyes closed as she gave in.

* * *

What do you think? Rate and review! PS: Seras isn't dead. I just like cliffhanger endings. (yes, you can still sue me for it)


	3. Chapter III

HELLSING: ERADICATION

CHAPTER III

Disclaimer: Just like before, I still don't own anything.

No change.

* * *

Seras awoke with a gasp. She felt a pain in her shoulder, raw and stiff… as if a wound was healing. She tried to sit up, but then immediately regretted doing so. She fell back down, and felt her sight revive itself and telling her brain what was going on.

She saw sand. Sand. And more sand. Everywhere. And then she remembered: the fight, her arm…

She looked down at her arms, and was quite thankful when she saw both of them still attached to her body. One was normal and the other was heavily bandaged, but in any case, she was glad to still be alive and not permanently injured.

Seras attempted to sit up again, and was again reminded that her body did not agree with that idea. Her torso felt like it was about to rip in half all over again, and her head was still spinning from thinking about her arm being severed and then coming back.

"Steady, police girl. The regeneration process will take a while longer yet." Seras recognized Alucard's voice, and looked up, seeing him standing over her. His expression was difficult to decipher, a mixture of anger and concern mingling confusingly, but his voice was calm and almost therapeutic.

Seras looked around, surveying all of her surroundings. She saw Sir Everett, who was absentmindedly fiddling with something on his wrist, perhaps a watch? She saw the butler, Walter, next to Sir Integra, who at Seras' attempts to sit up, watched with a small smile.

And then she saw Alik, standing by himself. He looked, if at all possible, about as bad as Seras felt. His side was bloody, though he stood in spite of this, clutching it with the opposite arm. His face sported a cut across one cheek that Seras could only guess the cause of, as well as looking drop-dead exhausted. His eyes were back to the dark colour she had seen when they first met, but they were weak and subdued this time.

After some time, Seras found the resolve to stand, and aided by Alucard, did so. She hobbled back to the estate, then finally acquired strength enough to walk on her own. Alucard vanished as she entered her dormitory. She located blood bag on her coffin lid, most likely placed there while she was unconscious, and consumed it, feeling somewhat rejuvenated by its contents.

Perhaps now she could sleep soundly, she thought to herself, as she began to fall into a dream.

In her dream, there was nothingness in every direction. Just a black background with random flares of colour appearing and disappearing like impulses throughout her vision. What was it?

Then, without warning, an earth splitting howl shakes her, overwhelms her senses. She looks around, confused. The predatory sound of a wolf was unrecognizable to some, but she had heard it in her nightmares before. But, no wolf came. Nothing happened, in fact. Just the howl, and nothing more.

Seras was ultimately and thoroughly bewildered, but then the dream collapsed.

And she slept otherwise undisturbed for the rest of the night.

The following morning, Seras awoke to no pain whatsoever save an ache where her arm had been severed the previous day. Even though she did not approve of _everything_ vampires could do, she had to admit that the self-regeneration was rather nice.

Another blood bag was present on her door. Seras felt her fangs elongate and lazily drank from the contents before discarding it. Walking down to the main hall, she was rather surprised to find Alucard conversing in hushed but clearly hostile whispers with Sir Everett.

Seras then attempted to back away, but then stepped into Alik in the process. The commotion alerted the pair of men, and Alucard abruptly flicked a hand to Everett, who responded by walking away, muttering under his breath. To Seras' surprise, Alucard smiled at her.

"Ah, the two fledglings finally awaken." To Seras' even greater surprise, Sir Integra stepped out from behind the door adjacent to Alucard. She appeared curious. "Alucard, would you mind if I borrowed .Miss Victoria for a moment? It will not be long."

If Alucard had any reaction, he did not show it. "Certainly, master." Seras walked to Sir Integra, who led the way to her office again, and dismissed Walter as they entered. Sir Integra motioned for Seras to sit down as she herself did so.

"Miss Victoria, I have brought you here to discuss the… _unique_ events that transpired yesterday." Seras nodded but did not respond. "We did not intend for you to have been hurt during the training, at least, not in such a grievous fashion, in addition to the interesting combat between Mister Roth and yourself."

She paused, allowing Seras to think about this. "Is there anything you can tell us that was out of the ordinary?" At this, Alucard suddenly appeared in the room, standing near Integra's desk. Seras thought more, and then replied. "Well, erm, Sir, I… noticed something strange when the last training dummy fell, and Alik and I both, um, sensed that it had the last of the blood on it."

Sir Integra raised an eyebrow. "Really?" Seras nodded. "Yes, it was… a-a voice." Alucard suddenly interjected. "Was it similar to your own?" Seras contemplated this. The voice she had heard _was_ like hers, even if it was raspy and somewhat bestial. She nodded, and then Alucard turned to Sir Integra.

"Master, may I take a temporary leave?" Integra murmured her assent, but kept her attention on Seras as Alucard disappeared. "Was there anything else that was strange, Miss Victoria?"

Seras nodded again, slowly, as she realized something else. "Something about… Alik." Sir Integra frowned. "What about him?" Seras cleared her throat before answering.

"Well, it was, erm, kind of like an… air, of sorts. Kind of like an _aura_." Integra's frown deepened as Seras continued. "Well, it was like a, _pull_, almost, like I knew he was a vampire before Master said he was, and he-" she broke off, not knowing what to say.

"He was what, Miss Victoria?" "I… I don't know, Sir. It's all very confusing." As she said this, a flash of darkness signaled Alucard's return to the room, and he appeared quite urgent now. "Master, I desire your conference. I bring news, and it is not fit for the fledgling to hear of."

Integra nodded. "Miss Victoria, you are dismissed. As for training, it has been cancelled for today. You are free to do as you wish." Seras left the office, and though confused, was glad to hear she had time for relaxation and sorting out her frenzied thoughts.

Seras let her feet carry her to the courtyard. It was already twilight rapidly panning to dusk, so she assumed she had nothing to worry about. The courtyard had an air of innocence about it, even though Seras knew exactly what difficulties had been experienced in its soil.

She walked slowly to a bench near the entrance to Hellsing estate and sat down. Before she knew it, a figure wandered over and was about to sit on the bench, when they seemed to realize Seras was already present. She recognized the figure as Alik as he noticed her.

"May I sit here?" Having heard only one word (and that had been a death threat) from Alik, Seras was surprised at his voice. It had the slightest hint of accent, but was surprisingly delicate, even if the owner was not.

She nodded. "Thanks for asking." He sat on the farthest end of the bench away from her, which she could respect, given their less-than-friendly introduction the previous day. After some time, Seras noticed that Alik turned to face her, evidently opting to end the awkward silence.

"I am… sorry." The words sounded foreign to him, enough so that Seras could notice the difficulty with which he spoke them. "Why for?" Then she realized how stupid that sounded, though in spite of this he gestured to her arm. "Your arm. I apologize."

"Oh. Um, thanks…" Alik returned to staring at his feet, as Seras did to her own. The silence returned, though thankfully Walter appeared soon enough to break it with his entrance. "Miss Victoria, Mister Roth, Master Alucard requests your presence in the dining hall forthwith."

Seras and Alik reached the office to find Sir Integra and Alucard waiting for them.

"Ah yes, the fledglings. Take a seat." Alucard motioned for them to sit down, and they did so. Before Seras could wonder why they were there, Sir Integra spoke.

"In light of the recent events, we have decided to send you on your first mission." Seras gasped, while Alik registered his shock only with widening eyes. "Our first mission?"

Integra nodded. "Yes. We reached the conclusion that you two are almost ready, and thus we will send you two. Alone."

Seras thought about this. It was quite intimidating. Alone with Alik? He was dangerous, and neither of them were trained. How did they expect-?

This line of worry was terminated however as Sir Integra began to speak again. "Of course we'll train you until it is time for the missions." Seras relaxed slightly. "And you will receive weapons, but just know that a mission is in the works. In the meantime, we will be watching more closely, as to avoid any more… _incidents_."

Seras noticed Integra was glaring pointedly at Alucard, though for what purpose she did not know. Integra waved her hand at the pair of fledglings. "You are dismissed. I would advise getting sleep." She grinned, and if Seras did not know better, she would have said it was mischievous.

"You two have a long ways to go yet."

* * *

And there is chapter III. I apologize for making it short, but in compensation the next one will be quite lengthy.

And I see that I have my first reviews! Awesome! In answer to them, no, the story is not an Alucard x Seras. I always thought of Alucard as more of a father figure, but

returning to the point Seras is going to find someone (and I can't tell you who) to be _very_ special. Second point, Alucard is seen with his, for lack of better term, "softer" side with Seras and only with Seras. As I read over my old story, I also found him to be not nearly as terrifying as a "No Life King" should be, but rest assured, he will get much darker as the story demands!

Hmm... That sounded rather ominous. Anyways, enjoy!


	4. Chapter IV

HELLSING: ERADICATION

CHAPTER IV

Disclaimer: You know. I don't own anything. Same thing as last time.

* * *

Alik awoke the next morning feeling quite apprehensive. He did not know at all what to expect from the new training regime that Sir Integra had implied would be put into place. As a matter of fact, Alik could not even ponder why the last training session had attracted such attention from his Masters anyways.

After all, however serious the damage that he had dealt Seras, it had not been permanent. Even if it had been, could they have even blamed him? He had had no formal training, as far as he knew, at any rate, of how to regulate his vampiric powers. He was, by his own admission, enslaved to the bloodlust he possessed. Among normal conversations, the few that he had anyway, he was often distracted with thoughts of his next consumption.

Alik had attributed this to his past experience, what little of it he could remember. He had never known his father, and his mother had been a kindly and loving person for as long as Alik could recall. This had changed in later years, when he had been only a few weeks shy of thirteen.

Alik knew that as a vampire, he did not age in the normal sense, and thus not subject to humans' conception of time, but he was by all accounts still juvenile at that point.

Even in his adolescent memory, Alik knew that the people who had arrived at his house that one day in autumn were dangerous. They arrived without warning and as silent as the night breeze, in dark uniforms and armed to the teeth with weapons that Alik did not recognize.

And they seized his mother after they had subdued her, and despite everything Alik did to resist them, they had eventually defeated him as well. Then they had left.

He was alone. He did not know who those people were, why they had come and taken his mother away, or why they did not kill him when he tried (and in his childish strength, failed) to stop them. All he knew was that his mother had become much stranger during that time, as he remembered.

She had hardly ever left the house, and when she did it was only ever on errands such as grocery shopping and to get the mail. Instead, she watched over Alik like a protective hawk. It was as if she was scared for _him_.

But as the men left Alik alone and bleeding, he made a discovery. Among the shattered remnants of his home, there was one bloodstain adorning the floor, and Alik found himself _drawn_ to it. As soon as he had reached out and touched it, he felt thirsty.

And that was how he discovered he was, in all respects, a vampire. The wounds that were inflicted on him began to heal, slowly. And when the police arrived to investigate the disturbances reported at the house, they had made the mistake of angering him. He devoured them as well.

And suddenly everything fell into place. From the glass of "punch" that his mother had him drink every day to the curious hour of curfew he had for the night to the strange passing of a bed that he slept in. Everything led to the conclusion that he, Alik Roth, was a vampire, and this mother knew it.

That one fateful night, Alik had a revelation. What was he to do? He could not stay at the house, no, the police would investigate it. So Alik went on the run. He lived off of local people's supplies as he travelled throughout the German countryside. He could not stay put.

He wandered this way, in fact, for a long time. The months stretched into years. At some point, he ended up in England, and he remembered all the time that he had spent in an exile of sorts from his home, going to sleep and in his nightmares remembering the men who took his mother away.

And the following morning, the small village of Cheddar discovered several corpses in the forest.

In his defense, he did not _remember_ killing anyone, but as uneducated as he was, he wasn't stupid. Waking up with his hands stained and his thirst quenched, he put two and two together. Since then, he became a murderer, if he hadn't been one before. Though he could not connect much between the time of his childhood and the present, he was fairly sure his innocence had long since passed.

* * *

All of this raced through Alik's mind as he passed through the Hellsing estate to his dormitory. Something odd had occurred at the training session between Seras and he, that was certain. But what was it?

"_Verdammt"_, he thought to himself. Why was it so complicated? It was this question that drove Alik at the moment, something that he had to answer. After their mission was complete, he would ask the Master his questions.

With this in mind, Alik drew out the blood bag that Walter had left on the door, and drank from it. It helped him think, surprisingly. What had Walter said before? Oh yes, the armory! That's what it was.

Alik proceeded to the place as prescribed by Walter. He had inquired the previous day of Walter what Sir Integra had been thinking of when she had mentioned more training, and since then he had wondered what was to happen.

Along the way to the armory, Alik encountered Seras, and surmised that she was heading there as well.

Alik still felt uneasy around that one. Other than the obvious guilt of severing her arm off, which was probably not a very polite thing to do to a lady, Alik felt that there was something else about her that was highly unusual.

Though inexperienced around the female race as he was, Alik figured that Seras was quite different from the rest of her kind. He could not place what it was, exactly, but innately knew that something was strange about her. Perhaps it was-

"Alright, you two. Accompany me here, and we'll get this over with." Sir Everett's voice cut into his thoughts. He did not realize that he and Seras had reached the armory and he found himself mesmerized with the scene of what lay inside the room.

Walls of holsters presented themselves to him. Covering the entire room (including the ceiling) were weapons. Handguns, assault rifles, shotguns, explosives, chain saws, cannons, and combinations of those among others attacked Alik's senses, threatening to overwhelm him.

Alik's atypical male nature was completely and thoroughly fascinated by the combined presence of such awesome firepower, and was hypnotized with the possibilities of them before Walter cleared his throat and began to speak.

"The weapons behind us are only examples of what you could receive, Mister Roth and Miss Victoria. Since Sir Integra has graciously allowed you to carry weapons on your first assignment, we must analyze what you would be best suited for as quick as possible."

With a wave of his hand, Walter turned to Everett. "Everett, fetch the augur!" Everett disappeared into another room, then returned shortly with a curious device in his hands. As though it was an unspoken command, the lights dimmed and sound seemed to vacate the room as Everett approached Alik with the device.

Alik saw to be some sort of orb, but it seemed to glow. What was it? Was this the 'augur'? What did it do? Questions but no answers swirled in Alik's mind as he watched Everett walk towards him with no emotion whatsoever, his path distinct and mechanical.

He stopped inches from Alik's face, presenting the orb in front of his eyes. Alik was confused, but before he could object the orb flash a brilliant hue of purple. Alik was perplexed, what was it doing? It began pulsating, the same purple color, in a hypnotic rhythm that Alik could not look away from.

And then the room disappeared. It faded away in a shower of purple, and cascades of color vanished.

Alik was in a room. Well, it _seemed_ like a room, but there were no walls, no ceiling, and no floors. Nothing. Nothing except everything. There were sparks of light, strange strands of shapes dancing wherever he looked, but none of it registered any sense. Was this was drugs did to people?

Alik squinted, and could have sworn that he saw people in the flashes of color. Familiar people. In fact, when he strained himself, he saw… his mother. And himself. They were talking. But the pictures kept changing. Perhaps they were all memories? Memories of his own life? What was this place?

The realization passed with surprising ease. He literally saw his life flash before his eyes. Of course, it was just a test, wasn't it?

But at the moment out of the shadows came something, a figure. As it neared, Alik began to make out distinctions of the figure. It was male, Alik guessed, from the gait and the way it held itself up, but what-

Alik then saw his own reflection… sort of. It was him, and it wasn't him. Something about himself that he knew was not normal. "_Mein Zwilling?"_ Alik wondered as he gazed at himself. His doppelgänger was dressed identically, but as he concentrated he realized the similarities ended there. The figure's eyes were a shade of crimson, the normally dark hair Alik knew he had was a dull gray in the figure.

Other, less obvious things, also caught his attention. The figure now stood, arms crossed, allowing Alik to glimpse the paler skin than he remember having, as well as a distortion, similar to static, surrounding the figure.

"Who-what-are you?" Alik asked. The figure shrugged, a hauntingly similar way to how Alik normally did so. "Your best friend. Your worst enemy. The yin to your yang, the dark to your light." The figure paused, then laughed, the static increasing. "That was poetic, right?"

When Alik did not respond, the figure smiled. "I am your inner demon. I am what makes you a vampire. And you are what makes me human. We exist together now, two souls in one body. A chaotic harmony."

Alik thought for a moment. Then it dawned on him. "You! You're the voice in my head!" The figure laughed again as it turned and walked away. It looked over its shoulder as it left.

"Did you expect anything else?"

* * *

Alik was once again lost in the myriad of colors. Loneliness was not something he was foreign to, rather, expected it. But he did not expect this. Walking along, suddenly a cloud of smoke erupted in front of him, the distance imperceptible.

It was a rather strange thing, that which was left where the smoke had been. It resembled a table of some kind, but without any legs. In fact, the more Alik looked at it, the more it resembled an altar, or something like that.

Alik had never been religious, but he knew enough that altars usually had some kind of significance, like with offerings and such. At this thought, another flash of smoke, and something appeared on the altar, something covered with purple cloth.

A figure, a human figure if Alik could guess, was on the altar, all but their face obscured by the cloth. And due to certain obvious characteristics, Alik noticed that it was female. Though he was as gentlemanly as he was pious (and that was not saying much), he did not wish to disturb the cloth; the notion just sounded completely _wrong_ to him.

This was compounded by the fact that he got close enough to see the face of the body. To his total shock and disbelief, the face of Seras adorned the body, though he could not see how. Maybe it was some kind of trick?

The main thing that threw him off was that… well, the body seemed, at least to him, to be a bit _disproportionate_ to what his memory of Seras told him. It was not as though she dressed liberally, but then again… it was best not to think of such things.

The idea that Seras was simply very well-endowed was eclipsed by her presence in Alik's weird dream at all. How did the weapon-sphere thing expect _this_ to be a form of analysis? Why was Seras here, on an altar? If altars were meant for sacrifices…

Before he could finish his pessimistic train of thought, the voice that Alik recognized as his demon's echoed throughout the area, somehow despite the walls.

"You know what must be done."

* * *

Alik awoke with a start. What the hell had just happened? Had it all been a dream? Or had Walter and company been _watching_ him? Had they seen Seras? _That_ was not a pleasant thought.

He looked around; saw Everett, the augur still in his hands, Seras, Walter, all of them staring intently at him. He swiveled his gaze, realized he was on the floor, and picked himself up. When they had not ceased their staring, he glared at them. "What?"

Walter said nothing, and Seras let out a breath that he realized she had been holding, then Everett motioned for Alik to follow him, which he did. The thoughts from his trip to Psychedelic Color Land still danced in his head, but he could not make sense of them.

They reached a rather spacious room, lined with featureless walls. In facts, the entire room seemed vacant of any particular detail aside from a few target dummies and an ambiguously placed box near the center of the room.

Alik felt a strange sensation of attraction towards the box, and not only because he was curious by nature. It was almost as if it had its own sense of gravitational pull, a vacuum. Something was… _calling_ him to it, almost. Like a whispered beckoning in a foreign language; Alik could not understand what was being said but the message was clear.

Regardless, Everett reached the box first. "This contains your weapons. You may now draw from it."

Alik moved to the box, and put his hand inside. He found something metallic, and despite the lack of lighting felt that the box was actually much larger than it looked. Pulling out his hand, he was greeted by a handgun that struck him as reminiscent of his master's own weapons.

Though confused by this, Alik then heard a sound that was what he assumed to be a growl. He looked into the box, and the growl continued to emanate from inside of it. Drawing his hand in and out again, he was this time confronted by a sword… almost.

It was a very _unique_ sword, to say the least. While the handgun was simple in its gray finish (and only a partially noticeable bloodstain on the barrel), the sword looked like something of an old movie, like a ceremonial relic that looked good, but couldn't actually do anything.

Only, somehow, Alik knew that this sword really _could_ do something. The hilt was deathly pale, and though looked very cold was surprisingly warm to the touch. The blade was eerie, a rather skeletal looking thing, though dappled with crimson stripes on either side (Alik assumed they were not just for aesthetic purposes), and possessed curved spikes on the outward edge.

For some reason, Alik did not think that it was a very… _modern_ design, but it seemed like it could get results if it wanted to. Curiously enough, Alik felt that it _did_ want to do just that. Holding both of them in opposite hand, Alik felt impulses, like echoes, dancing around him.

The weapons wanted to be used. They wanted to inflict pain… Didn't they? Or had Alik finally lost it? No, he most assuredly heard whispers. "_Kill. Pain._" They said, almost like a pleading. Alik was about to consider putting these creepy things back into their box when Everett nodded and began to speak.

"Good. Now attack the dummies." Alik looked back at the dummies, and discovered that just like before, they had bloodstains on them. Now he had already taken from the blood bag that morning, and this was the only reason he could think of why he did not innately spring from his position and maul it.

But at the same time, he could not deny the urge to destroy it utterly and completely. The fragrant smell of copper was getting to him, but he knew that losing control a second time was not good for the track record.

He leveled the handgun and fired. The sound was almost deafening, more a screaming than a gunshot, and a bullet exploded from the barrel, connecting with the dummy. It disappeared in a cloud of scarlet.

In addition to his male fascination with explosions and awesomeness being in ecstasy at that moment, Alik was hit full force with his vampiric drives. That was when more dummies arose from the center of the room, and he rushed to meet them.

He swung the sword, lunging to attack the dummies, finding the sword almost guide him towards them. He was convinced that the weapons had minds of their own, but for now they seemed to be aligned with his goals, as extensions of his own will. He found himself rather liking that idea.

Swiftly all of the dummies were dispatched of, and though he had not actually tasted of the sanguine liquid, Alik felt his hunger satiated at the present. He turned to Everett, who bore the strangest and somewhat unnerving lack of expression.

"Excellent. You are ready. Return to your dormitory for further instructions."

* * *

Alik did as he was instructed, but not without reluctance. Granted, being alone with Everett was odd, especially when he had no idea of what the man was capable of, but the weapons and blasting the dummies had made him forget about the odd encounter with what he was decidedly naming the "Strange Acid Trip PsychoLand of Color". This had amused him for several minutes before he returned to the depressing process of figuring out what all that stuff had meant.

Firstly, the strange sphere Walter had called the augur was supposed to test him, which he assumed was only planned to be the meeting with his demon and the box that Everett had shown him where he actually received his weapons.

Understandably, the thought of a violent and literally bloodthirsty demon living inside one's own consciousness while vicariously existing as a human was rather thought-provoking, even if it was revelatory of several things.

It certainly explained the odd voice he heard whenever he was filled with adrenaline, or even the whispers whenever he knew blood was around. Even his raw aggression, which he had assumed was unusual for 'normal people' was explained by the presence of this demon.

But what had happened afterwards was more disturbing. Alik took the optimistic side of perception and assumed that the confrontation with the altar was not meant to happen, just a strange coincidence. The altar – and more importantly who was on it – caused Alik to feel an alien sense of fear mingling with another sensation that he could not place.

It was just so damned odd. It had no explanation, and not like theological matters either. It was just inexplicable. The sight of Seras was just as disturbing as everything else, but _why_ she was there was what confused Alik the most.

From what he knew of, Seras was a good fighter. He gathered that she used to be a police officer, perhaps a very good one, even, but he knew nothing else that was not conjecture. He had sensed that she was distinctly _different_ that other people, but then again, so was Alucard and Sir Integra.

They all had an air of something that was almost entirely subconscious; if Alik thought of an analogy, he would have thought of it as a kind of pheromone; something that was just there and one could sense it, but not really know what it was.

Seras had radiated something, that was to be certain, but Alik could not identify what it was. The sight of Seras without anything but a cloth (and that was not very adequate) to cover her just felt strange to Alik.

He was sure that if it had been anyone else, he would not have cared. But _her_…

The whole thing was just so damned odd. Perhaps some sleep would clear his mind. All throughout the night, Alik thought of nothing but that strange altar, and what the hell it could possibly mean. The thoughts eventually tired him, and he slept soundly.

* * *

So, that was chapter 4! Tell me what you think! That would be great

Okay, I lied. It wasn't _super_ extra long, but in my defense I didn't find any other great place to put a chapter break in. Sorry.

If the German I used in there for Alik's thoughts were incorrect, I apologize again. I'm a bit rusty.

Also, for those of you who were bewildered with Alik dominating the storytelling, don't fret! Seras is going to be back in the next chapter, I promise. And I'll actually keep that promise this time around. Hopefully.


	5. Chapter V

HELLSING: ERADICATION

CHAPTER V

Disclaimer: You know. I don't own anything. Not Hellsing. Not Hellsing Ultimate. And certainly not any of the outlandish references I made in this chapter.

As a foreword: Seras doesn't narrate in this chapter. Sorry! I really am. I just got invested in the Alik's narrative, but in my defense, I think the appearance of a certain Catholic Priest will make up for this. Additionally, the presence of said Priest is not meant to offend anyone, just as how it wasn't in the anime.

With that aside, enjoy Chapter V!

* * *

Alik hated sleeping. It wasn't just that it didn't accomplish anything other than satiate his need for it, but it was all the things that happened while he was sleeping that annoyed him. A lot of his dreams never made any sense. Granted, a lot of his waking moments didn't either.

But the nightmares were just murder.

He hadn't had many since he had come to England, as most of them were centered around his traumatic experience shortly after his mother was taken away. But this one was by far the worst he had yet.

It had started out simply enough, which to Alik was already a warning sign. Additionally, this dream was surprisingly accurate, for the most part, of the events that led up to his indoctrination with Hellsing. That was also what set off his paranoia alert.

His encounter had begun with a meaningless walk through the woods in a moonlit sky. He had always enjoyed strolling about through the luminescence the orb provided, finding it quite relaxing and stable in sharp contrast to the rest of his life. The trees distracted him from his problems as they reflected the moonlight.

However, the dream then relived the events that he remembered as leading him to Hellsing. He had infiltrated Cheddar village after one of his pleasant walks, only to find not a soul present. He had found this odd, especially considering that he had devoured some of the villagers here.

He had finally worked up the resolve to attack the village directly, as he remembered, when he arrived there and found only vacancy. This had caused him to leave in haste to a nearby city to feed, but had subsequently managed to get himself captured by a police car before he could reach the suburbs.

Coincidentally, as he learned later, that was probably one of the smartest moves he had ever made. Not only did the two police officers provide a decent source of thirst quenching, Alik learned from the radio chatter that officers had been dispatched to Cheddar to investigate the lack of news.

He had also figured from hindsight that he had narrowly missed the vampire priest who had been feeding in the church at the time, and had Alik been present at the scene, Alucard would most likely have slain him on sight along with the vampire's army of ghouls.

Of course, moments after the vampire priest's death, Alucard had almost killed Alik when he finally returned, as Alik did not know of the presence of the priest until much later, but he had survived unscathed.

The dream displayed these events just as Alik recalled them until that moment, where it took a stranger turn. Instead of the procedure in his memory, he began seeing things that he did not recognize. He saw Seras fall over as though she had been shot, blood gushing out of her. He did not know why, but he ran to her.

She had a noticeable red tinge around her, as though she was glowing, and in his mind's eye the dream showed him the altar from Psycholand. Thinking of it, Alik found himself again in the room of strobe color, the altar and its covering present as well.

Alik approached the altar again, as he had done before. Seeing Seras' outline underneath the cloth was again rather uncomfortable, like a disturbing of privacy. Alik knew his own male desires, but thankfully his dream self was apparently a eunuch.

While Alik gazed upon Seras, and his dream mind contemplating why she was present, Alik's sleeping mind wondered on less constructive things. Had Seras always appeared this way? It was almost as if his psyche wanted Alik to notice her physical characteristics.

It was not that he did not find them distracting (which he did), but he was confused as to why he thought of this now. Surely there were better things to do than to stare shamelessly at what he assumed to be a corpse?

No, apparently not.

In his mind's depiction, Seras' blonde hair showed a brilliant hue, standing out substantially in the weird color-filled panorama. Another thing that strangely drew Alik's attention was her eyes. For whatever reason, they were open, not closed like they had been when he was actually at the altar.

They were blue. Dazzling blue, and though they were glazed over as the dead always do, Alik still felt like they were as alive as he was, and even if they were not focused on him, he still felt watched. The oddest sensation in a while.

Alik looked into her face. It was rather unusual. He had never been particularly captivated by females, as he saw them as a commitment and thus a binding, but Seras was effectively ensnaring him. Was it something else, though? Was it-?

Alik awoke to the sounds of rustling footsteps. It was about time.

* * *

Alik rose. The clanging of metal and thudding of footsteps, not to mention his anticipation to wake up from the strange nightmare already had him on edge, and combined with the utter confusion that he felt, he was thoroughly confused.

And then he had dreamt intimately about Seras.

…

Alright, that had come out wrong, but it had been as strange as he would allow. Perhaps his demon-self thing was simply toying with him. Given the literally demonic nature about it/him, Alik thought it was possible after all. However, the more he thought about, the more Alik reasoned that Seras' presence in his head at the same location with his demon in the dream world was not a coincidence.

Hopefully, he was wrong, and this was all a test. Maybe the augur had meant to do it, but whatever the case, Alik would be in an absolutely foul mood if he thought about it further. So he stopped.

The following weeks were filled with training, and for this Alik was grateful. They were spent acquainting himself with the new weapons he had received with numerous training dummy exercises. He already decided to christen the gun 'Hellion' due to its violent tendencies of destroying the dummies efficiently and more importantly because the name was scrawled on the bottom of the barrel.

The sword had persisted in being rather difficult to name. Alik had thought hard about it, but simply could not think of anything. Maybe it should be the Headsplitter? The Jawshredder? The Backbiter? No, that was too cliché.

Moreover, Alik was glad that these trivial events had distracted him from the temporal swamp that was his mind's problem with Seras and his demon. Throughout the training hours, which were long but enjoyable, he pretended that the dreams had never been dreamt. And it worked for a while.

That is to say, until the mission was announced.

Sir Integra had spoken through Walter that the mission, after what he guessed was three months of hard training, was finally ready. Alik knew not why the mission had been delayed so long, and wondered then if it was all staged, but it was of no consequence. He was dying for action.

The day of the mission's apparent launch was now upon him. Alik awoke from the previous night's repeat of the nightmare that had caused him so much grief, and was determined to have so much fun on the mission that he would not even remember the nightmare.

Of course, it was a fool's idea, but it had worked for him in the past. Passing through several columns of Hellsing guards, Alik reached the courtyard, and thankfully the sun had only barely begun to rise so as to not give him much trouble.

"Ah, yes. Now that we are all in attendance," Alucard smiled, rather ominously if Alik could speak it. "We will deploy you two in the target area in around two hours' time. Your target is a vampire that has been reported to be seen in Northern Ireland. Your task is to kill him." Alucard left as Alik turned and saw a helicopter touch down in the grounds.

Alik looked at Seras, and for a moment saw uncertainty, then approached the helicopter. He had only ever flown once, and a stowaway ride in an airplane was most likely not the best representation. He hoped for the best.

* * *

As it turns out, two hours happened to be a _long_ time. Alik had long since run out of things to do, and thus had resorted to his depressing process of sorting out all the problems he had.

Thankfully, the name for his sword had finally come to him. Bloodfrenzy seemed a bit eccentric, but he liked the ring it had. He had been thinking of all the times his own vampiric state had reveled in the carnage, and the name came like a godsend.

Rather humorously, the thought of a godsend reminded him of Seras. He had also stared rather unashamedly at her, and she had either not noticed or not seemed to care. It wasn't so much because she was pretty (though she was), but primarily because Alik was very curious.

She seemed like the kind of person who would be a hero, like a movie combatant, not the antagonist that his own kind, as he had overheard from some obnoxious guards, were often portrayed as. Seras was, for lack of better term, _unblemished_.

This made him wonder how she had gotten involved with Hellsing, and why she had even been turned in the first place. Why did his master take an innocent? It seemed like a defiling of the innocent, but far be it from Alik to question his master's motives. Most likely there was something that he did not know.

In another attempt to get his mind off of her, Alik had tried to think about the mission, which happened to be a futile strategy. He did not know what to expect, truly, but he was not afraid. Confidence was not something Alik did not possess, and at times he felt rather accomplished in combat prowess.

Additionally, what was one vampire in Ireland of all places compared to two trained (granted, fledgling) ones in battle? Alik knew that somehow Alucard would know how well they performed even if he was not there. It all seemed like too much of a test.

The greatest moment of the day happened when the helicopter abruptly halted in midair. The sudden jerking had caused Alik to move a few inches before he had managed to stop himself, and a quick glare at Seras stopped any of her amused reaction.

Alik looked out the window, spying nothing but countryside and the occasional small building. So they had picked the wasteland to find a vampire? Stupendous idea indeed.

The helicopter began its descent. For the strangest of reasons, Alik's stomach did not agree with that idea. The landing of the stowaway plane had not bothered him, but then again, the ground wasn't getting close that fast last time…

The doors opened once the chopper was close enough to the ground. Alik suddenly felt a surge of apprehension. Were they going to jump? What the hell?! Who's idea was that?!

He neared the edge of the helicopter, and looked over the edge. The ground was right there. He could make that jump… couldn't he? He heard the sounds of Seras behind him. "Why are just standing there?! Jump!"

He sighed. No one else understood. "Just… a few more seconds…" Seras groaned. "Bloody coward."

Alik took a few deep breathes. Maybe if he just thought about it, convinced himself that the ground was not an enemy, and that the principle of gravity wouldn't hurt _that much_…

Suddenly, Alik felt like he was no longer on solid ground. Indeed, he appeared to be flying… or falling. Falling through air, the trees, and… there were trees?!

Alik hit the ground. That hurt much more than he thought it would. Ouch.

He looked around. It would appear as he had fallen from the helicopter. And he had also fallen from the helicopter and landed amidst the trees in a fashion most undignified. And just when he was getting acquainted with the _good_ aspects of physics…

Then he saw Seras performing a much more respectful move, leaping from the helicopter like a bird of prey and landing solidly on the ground, not even flinching. Alik sighed. Showoff.

Alik realized as she began laughing hysterically at his new bedraggled look that she found the situation very funny. He also guessed that she had pushed him for being "too slow". Alik then began plotting his vengeance in a most unpleasant manner.

In truth, he too found it quite amusing that he had actually been afraid of what he guessed to be thirty feet, but entertained the prospect that she was entertained by his unlucky endeavors that Seras had forgiven him for chopping her arm off. At least that bridge had not been burned down completely.

* * *

The brief interlude had only satiated Father Anderson for a short while. As he walked through the remains of the old Protestant church building, he marveled at how easy it was.

Another thing has how easy it had been to get there in the first place. The filthy heretics broadcasted their presence like one would post propaganda, and the thought of actually drawing followers to the heresy in a place such as Ireland was something the old Father found quite amusing.

But of course, the heretics had fought nobly, for heretics, anyways. They died in service to what they believed in; a true cause, but in this case, they were dead and he was not. They did not realize the futility of opposing a man such as the Father.

Added to his pleasure was the events scheduled to unfold later that night. Anderson had received word from his close friend Father O'Carroll that there was a vampire on the loose in the countryside. It had been long since the Father had experienced a true challenge for his skills.

But the item on the list that took the cake was Hellsing. Apparently even they were audacious enough to think that a vampire in Ireland, claimed by Iscariot as sure as the Vatican, was any of their affairs. Even better, they had sent some of their own vampiric-hellspawn to "solve" the problem.

If any evidence of two of Hellsing's agents going missing under mysterious circumstances, no one was the wiser. It might even favor Iscariot, giving Maxwell enough initiative to petition the Queen once again for the slandering of Hellsing's name.

Absentmindedly, Anderson wondered what he would do with two fledgling vampires. Would he kill them? Would he torture them? Would he simply watch as the other vampire fought them, in hopes that they were killed?

No. If there was to be any death dealt this day, it would be by his own hand. Heretics deserved no mercy, and certainly not that done by other heretics. Judgment was, primarily and foremost, brought upon the guilty by the judge.

Anderson grinned at the thought. And he was the judge of this case. It brought him much pleasure in imagining the carnage of the heathens that he would reap, their bodies torn asunder in light of their ignorance and refusal of submission to God.

Yes, it would be most entertaining indeed.

But what was that in the distance? Anderson squinted. He saw a building set aflame, the smoke billowing into the sky. And for the life of him he could not even guess a reason. The heretics would have to wait for his holy retribution.

What the Protestant hell was going on in that building?!

* * *

Alik and Seras had only been walking a short distance when they encountered the first sign of trouble.

The townsfolk of the local villages had kept mostly to themselves, now that it was the hour of twilight and thus had no reason not be in their homes. The two vampires had decided to postpone doing much until the sun went down, having forgotten any protective materials against it.

And so finally, when they had emerged from what they assumed was an abandoned shed, they deigned to explore their surroundings. The countryside was featureless aside from the assorted farming equipment that apparently people had just left lying around. Curiously enough.

The pair of fledglings had been walking only a ways when they had spotted the town center. More importantly, they also spotted a flaming building. What was that doing there?

Alik had looked at Seras under the pretense that maybe she had an explanation, which of course was a false expectation, and the two of them continued in the direction of the flaming structure. After a short distance, they reached the building in a room that Alik assumed was a lobby.

If the building had elevators, they were neither visible nor functioning. This discovery was followed up by a swift utilization of a nearby stairwell. They arrived a short time later to a slightly alarming sight reminiscent of a horror film.

The hallway that lay before them was coated in a layer of blood, a deposit of corpses and / or their various limbs stacked in a haphazardly-fashioned pile near the wall. The smell was almost as equally unpleasant. Alik heard Seras gasp, but otherwise no other action occurred. They walked onwards past it, the message of ominous fortune not lost on them.

However, upon proceeding through another corridor that was curiously completely clean and without blemish, the pair of vampires were greeted by a split; one path to the left and the opposite to the right.

"Wirklich?" Alik thought to himself. This spelled out in screaming letters to him that someone – or something – was leading them into a trap. Split up, the two of them were weaker and easier to pick off. Unfortunately, time was not a luxury that Alik assumed they had on their side, and thus opted to contribute to the vibrant group discussion that was going on.

"We should split up." Seras nodded. Very good discussion. She took the path to the right while Alik went off on the other way. Even if someone was setting the stage for a trap, Alik too knew how to play this game.

He readied Hellion and Bloodfrenzy. They seemed to sense his paranoia, and were, if at all possible, as neurotic at the moment as he was. This was only a slight comfort as he walked cautiously down the corridor, completely spotless as the one leading up to the fork.

It was quite unnerving. The display of violence in the first hallway was evidence enough of something very dangerous in this building. Alik was not as stupid as he looked. However, if he was ready, nothing could possibly sneak up on him.

Even when he felt someone watching him, he continued down the hallway. The feeling was so intense, he could practically taste it. Almost as if they were right behind-

Suddenly Alik was on the ground, his weapons falling from his grasp. Excellent timing. Reacting on instinct, he kicked his assailant, and retrieved his sword, just like during his training, and was about to stab it right into the heart of…

Seras. Perfect. "Verdammt! What the hell was that Seras?!" He glared at her, though she returned it unaffected by his anger. "What? The other hallway was _literally_ a dead end. I got bored." Alik took a deep breath. His previously positive thoughts about Seras were starting to fade from his mind.

"Do you understand that someone very dangerous could be in this building? Perhaps the vampire we are looking for? Shouldn't we be ready for him?" Seras scoffed. "Come on. Lighten up. It was only a joke."

Seras then proceeded to rant about how Alik was supposedly lacking a sense of humor, but at that moment something struck him as being exactly the kind of thing he was hoping for. In her monologue, Seras had failed to see a rather large spider crawl out from under one of the cobwebs of the corridor's floor.

Alik was fairly sure that it was not a dangerous spider, but the fight to keep a straight face as he watched it crawl closer and closer to Seras was painstaking. It eventually reached her shirt, in which he ultimately lost his nerve completely.

"What? What are you staring at? If you're just looking at my chest, I'm going to- AAAAHHHH!" Seras screamed as she saw the spider, and Alik lost everything. He considered the spider the avenger of Seras' forcing his exit from the helicopter. Seras wildly batted at it with anything available, including her new rifle that she had received from the weapons room.

She even went to the extreme and fired at the spider, and only when it exploded into a small puddle did she dare to begin breathing again. Meanwhile Alik was also trying to breath, his chest feeling like it was dying of laughter.

Seras glared, but when Alik's chuckling subsided, he resumed his business face. They had a mission to do, and even though he would gladly drop whatever he was doing to see that again, Alucard most likely kill both of them for not finding the vampire. "Let's go. And this time, I'll tell you if I see any spiders."

Alik then dodged the slap Seras had aimed at him.

* * *

They walked on for what seemed like a lifetime. The only remotely eventful thing that had happened since the spider had wreaked havoc was the discovery of another body filled hallway, though it had by this point lost the effect its owner was trying to convey.

Alik began to wonder if the vampire was actually still in the building, as they had found no other activity since they arrived at the building. He had just about reached the point of suggesting calling off the search when the sound of shattering glass went off like a bomb in his hearing.

He looked around wildly, and at the opposite end of the corridor, where they had been moments before, he saw shambling figures with glowing eyes. Ghouls? Then there definitely was a vampire nearby.

Alik raised Hellion and Bloodfrenzy in sick anticipation. He had been waiting too long for a fight. Charging towards the group of undead, he began slashing and firing, the violence around him fueling his frenzy. He could taste the pain that was being inflicted, and it was-

Suddenly gone. Hmm. It would seem that Alik killed all four of them. That certainly was a buzzkill. Seras looked mildly interested, and then walked off. Alik looked back. "Where are you going?" Seras groaned with almost as much volume as the ghouls had shrieked with. "I'm bored. I'm going to find something to do."

Alik was confused. Where were the other ghouls? Why was this mission going all wrong?

He looked around, and to his great fortune discovered more ghouls in the adjacent hallway. He called back to Seras. "Well if you're bored, then come back! There are some more ghouls over here!" Seras turned, a look of annoyance on her face. "Fine. I'll shoot some of the rotten bastards. Can't be _that_ much fun."

Seras readied her rifle and approached Alik's position, found the ghouls (in the standard overwhelming-horde-formation), and fired.

The rifle bolted out a bullet, which pierced through the entire horde, the red mist of flesh tearing exploding into the hallway. Alik was struck by how effective it was, but noticed an entirely different reaction from Seras.

She was evidently amazed by this as well. Her mouth twisted into a devilish grin, as though amused by the carnage, and she readied her rifle again. Another shot rang out, smashing a ghoul's head, and then another and another. One by one they fell, and then Seras stood up, discarded her rifle, and ran into the horde with her bare hands.

Alik watched the chaos unfold. She was a demon. Rapidly running from one ghoul to the next, decimating them with physical strength that Alik knew vampires possessed but had never seen Seras utilize in battle before.

And then something even stranger happened. Alik felt pulled towards the havoc of Seras' rampage, as though it was a magnetic force. His own vision darkened. He felt his fangs elongate, such as when he was particularly hungry for blood, and found the visage of pain to be almost too much for his senses.

But was struck him even in his vampiric haze was Seras. She appeared to be glowing, and even with the bodies being mutilated and ripped apart right in front of him, all Alik could do was watch her. She was an anomaly, and in this case the only thing in Alik's current sight that was not a shade of crimson. Instead, a brilliant shade of purple seemed to follow her as she tore through the undead legions.

Time seemed to slow down. What was happening? Alik heard the voice of his demon in his head. "There! You see! It is true!" Seras' fist collided with the skull of a ghoul, and in the next instant it was gone.

The action caused Seras to turn at an angle that allowed Alik to glimpse her face. Her eyes reflected the fire with which she fought, but Alik could not describe it. She turned and kicked another ghoul, catapulting it with enough force to dent the walls.

This produced an action from Seras that Alik in his wildest dreams (which were quite extravagant) would expect. She stood in the center of all the now-broken ghouls that she singlehandedly had slain, and licked the blood from her fingers.

Alik heard a voice again, thought this was most definitely _not_ male, almost as if Seras herself was speaking, but… odder, distorted. She breathed. "Yessss…."

It was somehow sickly fascinating. Alik could not take his eyes off of her, the way she stood and cleansed herself of the remains of the battle. She too seemed to be reveling in this strange sensation, as she was breathing heavily, though Alik did not know if it was from the fighting or something else.

Alik was at this point fixated on her. He felt his vampiric bloodlust drain as the violence had ceased, but still remained unable to look away. Being male, Alik at this point had other thoughts now invading his mind, and Seras did not help him with her actions.

However, when she began moaning, it was all Alik could do not to lost control completely. It was completely feminine, and the fact that it was completely out of context was all the more attractive to Alik.

And then she turned to face him. Her face was streaked with blood, either hers or the ghoul's, and she stared at Alik until he noticed the red haze lift from her eyes. Almost as if the spell had been dispelled, she seemed to realize that she was saturated with blood.

She looked down and her eyes widened, and then looked up at Alik. "Did… Did I do that?" It took Alik several moments to recover himself before he responded. "Y-yes." Seras looked about in shock, and without warning walked closer to Alik.

"What happened?" Alik was startled by her suddenly nearing him, and when he said nothing she continued. "Did I… Did I lose it?" Alik did not know how to reply, but she spoke again. "I feel…_really_ good. Did I kill them all? All of them?"

Alik nodded. Seras' face developed another grin. "Wow…"

* * *

Father Anderson could not believe his blessings. The original vampire that was plaguing the countryside was now dead, impaled with a wooden stake that the Father had found, but now he was presented with a greater opportunity.

He had run to the sounds of heavy combat, and to his surprise the two Hellsing fledglings had managed to kill all of the ghouls that had been running amok in the building. They now stood close, and the old priest took aim.

The dexterity he had been endowed with served him well before, but he never ceased to pride himself with accuracy. The bayonets he threw met their target, and the woman they hit shouted in pain.

"Gotcha, ya little heathen!"

* * *

Well, what do you think? I was a bit anxious to post this part, since I didn't know how people would react. Essentially, Seras just experienced her first bloodrage, and Alik experienced some... side effects of it. And also, I apologize again for not having a lot of Seras and bit more angsty teenager depression from Alik than last time, but it won't happen again. Hopefully. Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter VI

HELLSING: ERADICATION

CHAPTER VI

Greetings again! I truly am sorry for delaying so long on this short chapter. My week was pretty hectic and I wasn't able to get a lot of work done, but anyways... Here it is!

* * *

Seras felt the burn of the sun on her back. She shrieked, and fell. Luckily, Alik caught her, but the disorientation was too much. What the hell had just happened?

She felt herself lowered onto the ground, felt the pain sear even more, and slipped from Alik's grasp. She struggled to turn, tried to see where Alik had gone, and…

Her vision blurred. She couldn't see! She felt herself held by someone – or something – and then heard whispers. Was death coming for her? Was it her time? The pain lessened. The whispers grew louder, but Seras did not know what they were saying. Maybe it _was_ her time.

And then everything fell into blackness.

* * *

Alik had panicked. Seras had seemed to vanish from sight after he had set her on the ground as gently as he could. To his fortune the trench coated man who had thrown those… _things_ at her did not do anything else, but this only seemed to infuriate Alik more.

He had charged at the man, determined to make him pay, but had had to dodge further attacks from the man as he threw more of the sharp objects (_were they knives?). _Alik had been successful in avoiding them but could not seem to reach the man, always being thrown back whenever he approached.

Curiously, the man had said nothing, at least, nothing that Alik could hear. He didn't even know who or what the man was, or what he was even doing there. But then Alik was thrown back again by the invisible force that seemed to surround his combatant.

This time, he was not as fortunate. One of the knives managed to get past, embedding itself in his shoulder. Alik likened the pain to what he thought acid in an open wound felt like, but suddenly more of the knives flew at him, like a flurry of deadly fireflies.

The pain was like poison in his veins, but he couldn't give up. He had to fight! He had to fight for Seras! He managed to stand, attempted to ignore the pain, and at last he reached the trench coated man, slicing at his arm. To Alik's surprise, he was not forcibly pushed, but the blade connected, and the man's arm was lopped off.

Apparently this was rather unexpected. The wound bled profusely, but the man did not seem quite fazed, merely surprised at the occurrence. As his other arm drew more of the knives from his seemingly infinite storage, a golden light surrounded his wound.

The arm appeared on the man's shoulder again, fully unwounded, and the man then threw more knives at Alik, who was too stunned to react. He was caught in the chest with the barrage, and the pain was too immense. He slumped to the floor, and as he lay there, he saw the man's face contort into a sadistic smile. He then walked past Alik's body, but Alik was not finished.

Incredibly, Alik found the strength to move again. He buried Hellion in the back of the trench coated man, who this time roared in a mixture of anger and pain, and then Alik struggled to reach Seras. He found her as he had left her, and still covered in blood from the event.

He felt weak from the pain, almost delirious, but he _had_ to carry her! He lifted her, and leaned against the wall as he tried to move as fast as he could. The knives seemed to bury into him, but he _had_ to get out.

But then Seras screamed. And Alik fell.

* * *

Seras felt herself lifted again. She opened her eyes to Alik's face. It was sticky with blood, but she felt elated. He was holding her, and the coppery scent was all around her. It was amazing.

But then something appeared over Alik's shoulder. Seras could not find the strength to move her arms, so she did the only thing she could: scream.

Alik vanished from her sight and she dropped to the floor. She felt adrenaline overtake her as some of the blood from Alik fell onto her face. It tasted strange, but she felt an inkling of the vampiric rejuvenation begin.

Her opponent was now laughing. Seras did not see her rifle anywhere and instead moved behind an alcove in the hallway, her mind racing to think of something. She _had_ to think of a way to fight the man, but how?

She still felt weak. Perhaps if she could reach the ghouls, then she could feed from them…

No, the man was too close. She would not have time. What could she do?

"Ye can't escape! There is nowhere to hide for the enemies of God!" The man had finally spoken, in a curiously accented voice that carried the tinge of insanity. _Great_, Seras thought to herself, _I always wanted to fight a priest._

She continued to backtrack through the hallway. She was about to reach abject despair when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. What was it? A flash of red, and then Seras recognized it.

"Master!" Alucard had appeared, his expression unreadable. "Where is the other?" Seras pointed to the end of the hallway where Alik had fallen. "We were attacked by some-" She was interrupted as the man in question arrived on the scene.

He saw Alucard, and his grin broke into a twisted smile. "So, look what we have here! The master vampire comes to help his bloody minions!" He drew more knives. "I've waited long for this moment, Hellsing scum!"

Alucard's own countenance remained relatively calm, but a small grin appeared around the edges of his lips. "And here I thought that the Catholics were finished. What a shame. The Vatican will receive your remains in an envelope!"

Alucard drew both pistols and fired, the bullets connecting with the man's head, and he toppled. Seras thought he was dead, but when he suddenly stood back up, she could not – _would not_ – believe it. "Bloody vampires!"

The priest charged at Alucard, wielding the knives as swords, and Seras took this opportunity to get past him. She heard the sounds of battle, but at that moment her mind returned to Alik and she was determined to find him.

Seras reached the hallway where Alik and the ghouls had fallen. She knelt at the nearest ghoul and began to drink of its remains, feeling revived as she did so. Her strength returned, and though not in full force, she felt able to do what she did next.

She located Alik's body, and tried to think rationally of how she could help. He was mutilated; his eyes glassed over, and blood streaming from the knives' wounds. She fell to her knees again, and managed to pull out the knives that were embedded in Alik's flesh, and then she looked into his face.

Seras found herself distracted by the way he lay there, frozen. She was not sure if he was dead or simply comatose. She then moved closer to his face, her hand acting of its own accord, and stroked his cheek.

She was not entirely aware that she had done so until blood had seeped onto her glove, staining it quite brilliantly. She flinched, but then discovered with surprise that she did not want to move her hand away.

Seras was not sure when she had begun to feel differently about Alik. He had an air of sadness about him, something she found compelling, but in the vampiric bloodlust she had felt when fighting the ghouls, her perception of him had… changed.

In that moment, she had felt as if there actually _had_ been a literal magnetic connection between them, as if she was a fly drawn to a light. She could smell the blood on him, its aroma intoxicating, and she found it impossible to ignore.

Seeing him now in a state of unknown health, she did not know what to think. But then she realized that he might not survive if she just stayed there. With reluctance (but also resolve), she tore herself away from his eyes and moved to the nearest ghoul, dragging with her back to Alik.

She ripped off some of its flesh and moved it to Alik's mouth, hoping with all her might that he would drink from it. Relief flooded her when she saw that he did, perhaps unconsciously.

At this, she also noticed that his body slowly began to heal. The wounds had stopped bleeding. She tore off another piece of the ghoul and this time, Alik ate of it without her holding it.

Alik's eyes refocused, and when he saw her, he smiled a little, as he was not aware of doing so. Seras smiled back, taking his hand and helping him stand. He braced himself against her, and she felt her heart race.

Then Alik seemed to remember what had happened. His eyes widened. "Where is the man? I need to kill him!" Seras pointed in the opposite direction. "Master came. They're in the hallway."

Alik looked around, grabbed his pistol and his sword, and proceeded into the hallway that Seras had told him. As for herself, she finally located her rifle (discarded next to a ghoul), and followed suit.

As they entered the scene, the man and Alucard were poised to fight again, but Alik reacted first. He aimed his pistol, and fired as the man turned around.

The man's neck spewed blood as it was impacted. "Damned heathens! How many of ye are there!?"

And then the most stunning thing that evening happened.

* * *

Alik was about to fire again, when he noticed the appearance of someone he least expected. Sir Integra walked into the hallway slowly and purposefully, though for all the show she made in doing so, it was surprising to Alik that everyone turned to face her.

She carried a pistol, casually levelled at the priest, and walked to him. "Ah. Alexander Anderson. I was wondering when Iscariot would interfere."

The priest's face rippled with anger. "Iscariot claims jurisdiction in Ireland! You Hellsing bastards have no claim here!" Integra remained calm. "Hmm. It seems a moot point, especially considering you are surrounded."

She looked at Alik with a faint smile. "Mr. Roth?" Alik glanced up. "Kill him."

Alik nodded, grinning. "With pleasure _Kommandant._" He fired, but at that moment the man raised a book. The bullet connected with the book, but broke on impact with it. Alik realized it was Bible.

"All of ye will regret this! Retribution will be delivered by the hands of God, and ye'll be destroyed!"

The man opened his Bible, then a swirl of golden light appeared around him, and then he was gone. Alik guessed that he could teleport like his own Master could, but somehow the odd priest seemed out of place doing such.

Seras turned to Alik. She hugged him, which startled everyone present, but she whispered into his ear as she did so. "You're alive." It was a statement. Alik was confused.

After he had managed to move away from her grasp, his face a deep shade of red (and not because it was heavily bloodstained), he noticed Alucard watching. "Hmmm…."

He appeared to be deep in thought, though as to what occupied his Master's thoughts Alik hadn't the slightest idea. Integra began whispering furiously to Alucard as she motioned for the fledglings to follow them out of the building.

* * *

It had been a surprisingly short ride back to Hellsing, at least to Alik. Mainly because both he and Seras had almost been killed by a psychopathic Catholic priest, and not to mention that there hadn't even been a single leprechaun on the entire mission!

As much as he had been through that day, Alik was content, however. Ever since they had begun the mission, he had noticed Seras acting differently, and though he did not know the cause, he appreciated the results.

Her distinctly feminine mood, in which she constantly asked if he was feeling alright, touching his hand to reassure him that everything was fine, as well as being very friendly and not the tomboy that Alik had come to know was a change of pace and actually quite strange, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Of course on his part, Alik was trying to forget the less-than-platonic moment that had occurred between them when the bloodlust had threatened to overwhelm the pair of them, but he wasn't about to complain.

It was strange, but then again, everything about that day had been. Perhaps it really was the heat of the moment? It wasn't that Seras _wasn't_ attractive in her friendly mood (which she was, as much as Alik refused to admit), but the raw gravitation that he had experienced was gone now.

He wasn't sure what to think about that.

* * *

Training resumed the following day. Alik noticed the lack of action on the part of his Master, and Sir Integra as well. Everett usually stayed away. Destroying training dummies, athletic conditioning, and extreme obstacle courses seemed to be the only real events that took place for a long while.

Again, Alik took the time to sort out his thoughts. Seras had since returned to her tomboy-ish state, but other than small talk had not said a word to him about the mission, which occupied all of his mind's discussion.

What if he had died? What if she had died? What if they had killed the priest? What if Alik had been faster? Then he could have saved Seras the pain…

Such things tormented him for the majority of the training sessions, often making him lose focus and miss a dummy, to Seras' evident amusement. The whole thing was just so damned annoying that Alik was wondering why he even thought of it at all.

Finally, after what Alik assumed to be two months (he had a terrible sense of time), Alucard sent for Alik via Walter that he was to meet him in the library.

Given that Alik did not know that the estate even had a library, it took his mind off of the mission almost instantly. He had then hastily scampered after Walter and asked for directions, then proceeded on the prescribed path to reach his Master.

Alucard waved Walter away as he sat in a chair opposite Alik. He motioned for Alik to sit, and he did so, and then Alucard began speaking. "Fledgling." "Yes Master?"

"Do you know who the man who attacked you in Ireland was?" Alik frowned, trying to remember. "He was from… Iscariot, was he? Our rivals." Alucard nodded, though showed no expression. "Yes. He is called Alexander Anderson, a formidable weapon that the Vatican has unveiled. You are quite fortunate to still be alive, fledgling."

After a pause, he continued. "Another subject I seek to discuss: When Sir Everett showed you the augur, you received a vision. What happened in it?"

Alik thought well before answering. He did not think that his Master was referring to his meeting with the demon, but he also knew that he did _not_ want to tell anyone about Seras' presence in his dreams. It was too strange for him to explain.

"I met a demon. _My_ demon." Alucard did not react. "Nothing else?" Alik shook his head, and at this gesture Alucard's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure?" Alik nodded.

"Very well. Go about your training, fledgling."

Alik stood and walked out of the room, wondering exactly what had just happened.

* * *

Seras was dreaming again. The training had been good for her, allowing her to think but not think too hard on anything in particular. Truth be told, the mission in Ireland had affected her much greater than she had ever expected it to.

Colour flared as thoughts swirled in her dreaming mind, recollections of that mission playing around her vision. She did not forget what had happened between Alik and herself; how could she? That moment had reoccurred in her dreams, though often she found it in… _variations_.

Though she could barely compare, she knew that she had not felt so strongly about… well, anything, before that moment. And _what_ she felt, exactly, was the question that she wanted answered. Was it adoration? Possibly. She felt like she could trust Alik, even though she knew that others would deem her mad for thinking so.

But yet what was it? She had begun to wonder if blood was the only thing that her vampiric state lusted after. Granted, she did have more carnal desires that appeared occasionally, but she felt different towards Alik. She cared about him, cared for him, not for his looks.

…

That was a lie. She definitely cared about those too. But mostly him.

She could not even name the feeling that she guessed was her own. She could not dare to, not now, not ever. Obviously it was just some sort of stress, a result of the trauma of being stabbed and almost dying. It wouldn't last long.

But she _wanted_ it to. She wanted it _so much more…_

* * *

So...

What do you think? Rate, review, all that good stuff. Although this time, I am curious to see what people might say. I would be lying if I said that I did not enjoy writing Anderson, but I am unsure as of right now whether or not he is going to stay that way. I like the Irish accent, but I could also see him being a Brit, so...

Hopefully, if my schedule permits, I'll have Chapter VII up pretty soon, as I have made some progress on that. In the meantime, review, and peace out!


	7. Chapter VII

HELLSING: ERADICATION

CHAPTER VII

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. But you already know that, right?

I apologize for submitting this chapter a bit later than I wanted to. My week has still been pretty crazy, but I think the worst part is over, so I *should* be able to

work on this story a bit more in the following days. And I promise the next chapter will be longer. Again, I found no other good place for a chapter break.

And without further ado, Chapter VII!

* * *

"What the bloody hell?" Seras was slightly more than upset, considering the circumstances, but this was just ridiculous.

"Just do as you are told, Miss Victoria." Sir Integra said dismissively, waving her out of her office. As Seras walked away, she thought about what had just happened.

Several months in training had not dulled her strange dreams, nor her interest in Alik, but when Sir Integra had announced that they were going to get another mission, Seras was understandably moved.

Liverpool was the destination, and two vampires of the names "Leif" and "Jessica" were the targets. Apparently the two of them had been causing trouble for local authorities what with the random murdering rampages and what not.

But wait, there was more! Alucard had stated during the briefing that in order to avoid any 'grievous events' (such as Seras getting impaled and almost killed… again), Alucard himself would be present, but for all intents and purposes other than ultimate protection, invisible.

Of course, Seras knew that she was being irrational, but the thought of Alucard thinking that they couldn't handle themselves (even if they actually couldn't) was infuriating.

She stomped off to her coffin and collapsed.

* * *

Seras awoke the following morning in a state of sick anticipation. Adrenaline was very similar to the thing in her veins, and she realized that her attitude towards the mission was mixed with both desire and dread.

The prospect of being able to fight against things that were not targets was promising, yet Seras did not know what would happen. She couldn't contemplate what might go wrong this time, given that their destination was significantly more urban. Would they be caught by the police? Would they fight them?

Strangely, she had no appetite, presumably due to the dread she felt for whatever reason. This prompted a hypothetical discussion in her mind as to whether or not vampires could even _feel_ fear.

Seeing Alik did not help her mood, which was again unsettling. It felt like her chest hurt every time he said something, moved about, or even when he wasn't. She wanted him to be there, but she didn't want him to. The dissonance was trying her patience.

Walter escorted the both of them after they had reached the courtyard (again, before dawn) to the Hellsing chopper, the same as they had done last time. As she strapped herself in for the ride, Seras tried to distract herself, but when no pleasant thoughts came to her, she nodded off into sleep.

* * *

Surprisingly, Seras awoke feeling quite rested. Although surely her imagination, it seemed to her that the trip to Ireland was shorter than this one, but she knew it was impossible.

Eventually, the helicopter touched down, and Seras remembered with amusement how they had landed the last time. She had found it incredibly hilarious that Alik was afraid of heights and / or flying, and though she had not meant to seem like she was teasing, she imagined that Alik thought it amusing as well.

She followed Alik's lead, assuming that he actually knew where they were supposed to go. More importantly, it gave her time to think, anyways.

They walked for a long time.

She had just begun to think of if she had ever visited Liverpool when she was a young girl when Alik's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Do you hear that?" This confused her. "Hear what?" Alik raised his sidearm to point into the distance, motioning towards what Seras guessed was a pair of lights gleaming in the distance. Straining her ears, she heard something.

"Voices. Two." Seras' heartbeat sped up. "Are they our targerts?" Alik nodded.

Swallowing, Seras retrieved her sniper rifle from its sling across her back, readied it, and followed Alik through the underbrush. They stopped when the two figures could both be seen in the faint light. There were indeed two figures, one male and one female.

The man was tall, clad in a trench coat, short gray hair protruding from a tightly drawn skullcap, and wielded two pistols, each visible in either hand. The female was noticeably shorter, with long brown hair and a more casual combination of jeans and a pink t-shirt. For some reason that Seras could not place, the she-vampire looked very strange, disturbing, even.

Seras could tell they were vampires, not only by their peculiar scent but also due to when they turned at the angle where she could glimpse the moonlight in their menacing crimson eyes. In the time that followed, Seras caught a string of relatively unimportant conversations, and then suddenly the vampire pair began to walk away. Alik whispered into Seras' ear. "Let's follow them."

And so they did. Under the clouded night sky, Alik and Seras followed the pair of vampires out of the forest and into the city. They discovered at that moment that the vampires were approaching a rundown apartment building, (Seras assumed that was their semi-permanent residence), and upon reaching the door to the building Alik stopped.

"We have to get the upper hand. They know the building better than we do." Seras nodded, and then reholstered her rifle in favor of two pistols that Walter had given her days earlier "for stealth operations". She was suddenly quite grateful for them.

She followed Alik as he ascended the stairway in the lobby. As they walked on, Seras picked up the smell of the vampires growing stronger as she assumed that they were getting closer. Finally, a noticeably more suspicious door than its surrounding counterparts became apparent in the hallway.

Alik walked up to it, and then abruptly stopped. "Shh… listen…" Seras neared the door, hearing a mighty odd sound, akin to… heavy breathing? What did that mean?

Alik looked away, his face somewhat red. "They must be lovers…" Seras felt the blood rush to her face, then glanced at Alik as he put his hand on her shoulder. "Let's kill them now."

Casually, Alik squared his shoulders and knocked on the door. The sounds ceased almost instanteously. A gruff voice, the one of the male vampire, answered. "Who's there?" Alik grinned to Seras.

"Oh you know. The house cleaners!" Alik fired his pistol through the door as Seras fired her own. The bullets flew in a hailstorm as holes appeared in the rickety door, and Seras could hear a shout of pain from the vampire on the other side.

"Dammit!" The vampire cursed at them, and Seras heard rapid footsteps in another direction. She and Alik stopped firing as she kicked down the door, and found a hallway. She ran to the right, while Alik covered her on the left.

As she turned, she spotted the vampire in the adjacent room, who began firing with his own handguns as he saw Alik. "Alik! Look out!" Seras cried, though Alik had already noticed the vampire's entry and retaliating with force.

Alik ran towards the vampire, somehow evading the oncoming bullets, and collided with his shoulder into the vampire's face. The vampire fell to the floor, rolled out of the way of Alik's subsequent sword plunge, and stood. Seras followed the action into the room where they went.

As she arrived in the doorway, she found the vampire in front of a glass windowsill. He fired at Alik again, and though Alik hissed at the pain, he managed to get a headshot on the vampire, who fell backwards onto the glass. Alik followed his attack with a fierce kick, and the vampire flew through the window and shattered the glass.

The body fell to the ground below, which was to Seras' eyes about two stories. Shockingly, the vampire stood up, and began shooting again from his downed position. Ducking behind the wall, Alik looked at Seras. "Go! Get the girl! I'll take him!"

Seras ran out of the room in search of the female vampire. She ascended another flight of stairs as she scented a vampiric scent, arriving in an even shabbier apartment room. The room was entirely vacant aside from a rugged chair, where the she-vampire sat, looking quite calm given the circumstance.

"How nice of you to join me, Seras." Seras' mouth betrayed her surprise. "Do I know you? Wait… Bethany?!" Seras gasped. The woman smiled. "So you _do_ remember me? The police force could not offer me what I wanted, what I _needed_. Alfons provided for me."  
"Alfons? That your new boyfriend?" Seras grew angry. She remembered Bethany as one of the officers most critical of her then-juvenile entrance into the police department. All the resentment began to rise as she drew both of her pistols on Bethany's face.

Bethany smiled wider. "Do it. I don't think you can." Seras honestly knew that she _could_ and more importantly _would_ shoot her, but something still confused her. "How'd you become a vampire? This Alfons bloke isn't the most vampiric one out there."

Bethany's smile waned a bit. "The process is still… imperfect. But I know that it is more than enough to kill you Seras! You're just a human!" It was now Seras' turn to smile, and as she did she felt her fangs elongate as she steadied her guns.

"Guess again, bitch." She fired, but Bethany was quick. She sped towards Seras, but Seras dove out of the way. Bethany drew a handgun of her own, and when Seras stood she aimed at Seras, shock expressed on her face. "Seras? You? How-?"

Seras cut her off by firing at her hand, which forced Bethany to drop the gun and clench he wound in pain. Seras noted this. "You can't regenerate, can you? That means that if I shoot you somewhere else, you die, right? I like this arrangement."

Bethany fled the room. Seras pursued her, running after the she-vampire as she felt the thrill of the chase begin to spread through her body. Finally! She would kill tonight!

Bethany climbed an escape ladder, and Seras fired on her, a bullet managing to graze Bethany's shoulder. She screamed in pain, and as she vanished over the top Seras followed right on her heels. Upon reaching the rooftop, Seras noticed Bethany looking around, frantic for an escape route.

In the meantime Seras resumed shooting at Bethany, but wherever she aimed she seemed to miss. Bethany would lean too far right or left, and the bullet would whiz by harmlessly

"Damn it! Stay still!" Seras cursed, but to no avail. Bethany continued to dodge her every shot, but at that moment Seras heard a thud behind her. Turning she saw Alik, his chest sticky with blood, but he grinned at her. Her heart sped up even more.

"I'll cut her off. Finish her!" Alik ran towards Bethany, who had just noticed his arrival and whose face was contorted with fear. She turned and fled, jumping off the side of the building. Alik looked over said edge, and yelled at Seras. "She's escaping on foot! Use the rifle!"

Seras ran to the edge as well, discarding her pistols on the ground in favor of her rifle, and taking aim she spotted Bethany. She breathed and fired, but again the shot missed. Growing more frustrated by the minute, she fired recklessly, making several holes in the road as Bethany ran, but none of them hitting her.

The voice in Seras' head spoke at last. _"She's getting away! She is escaping!" _Seras wished she could tell the demon to shut up. She fired again, the bullet managing to miss Bethany by what Seras guessed as mere inches.

Alik crouched next to her, and retrieved something from his coat. Seras glanced at it, finding it to be the arm of… who? Alfons? Alik offered it to her, the arm glistening with blood. Seras bit into it, and the world became that familiar haze of red.

She looked back at the road. She could _feel_ Bethany running, sensing her location, trajectory, everything. Seras took another breath, imagined where Bethany would be, where she would die.

Then she fired one last time.

A resounding crack echoed across the surrounding area. To Seras, it seemed much louder than the other shots that had been fired previously. She could see the bullet rip through the air, and looking through the scope she found Bethany.

Bethany's chest split open, blood surging over everything, and she fell to the ground. Seras let out a sigh of contentment. Finally! She had now had a successful mission. Seras glanced up at Alik, finding him to be beaming with pride.

He stretched out his hand, which Seras took. As she stood, Alik spoke. "Good job. Sir Integra will be pleased." Righting herself, Seras noticed something quite odd. Not only did Alik not relinquish his grip on her hand after she had stood upright, she similarly found herself unable to let go.

The two of them became transposed, in that spot, neither doing anything to disrupt the moment that they found themselves in. Seras felt her heart break into a vivace tempo for what seemed to be the umpteenth time. She stared into Alik's face, surprised at how vexing they were.

His eyes glimmered in the moonlight, so inviting, so hypnotizing. Seras felt as though she could stay there for a long time, simply looking at him. She did not know why, did not care to, but perhaps… perhaps she could-

"How romantic. Am I interrupting?" A booming voice shocked both Seras and Alik out of their respective reveries. They turned to find Alucard standing a few feet away on the rooftop, arms crossed and fedora pulled low as to obscure his goggles. From that stance Seras could not tell if he was amused or angry.

Seras stammered. "M-master! We-we were successful!" Alucard nodded. "So I see." He turned, expression still unreadable, and gestured towards the sky. "Come. Sir Integra will want a full debriefing."

* * *

Alik awoke feeling oddly refreshed. He prepared himself for the day, reflecting on the last night's mission but also expecting more strenuous training. He had detected that Alucard was for some reason upset with him, but for what he did not know.

Alik had bested a vampire (one that he thought was a somewhat capable opponent) in single combat, and had not been incapacitated as he had the last time a similar situation had occurred. Even more so, he had watched with great pride how Seras had dispatched the other vampire with a marksmanship that Alik knew he could not aspire to.

However, this left him with reasonable confusion. It _had_ been a perfect mission, and that was set him on edge. Was it possible- No, surely not. Alik knew that he was paranoid, but even his wildest dreams usually made sense (sort of).

Perhaps Alucard was merely upset over something else and had been projecting this frustration on Alik. It was possible that even he was impressed but unwilling (or unable) to show proper pride in his fledgelings.

Alik heard footsteps, and opened the door of his dormitory to the face of Walter. "Sir Integra requests your presence in the office immediately." Alik nodded his assent as Walter left, and walked on to the office in question.

During the debriefing, Seras explained the majority of the mission, with Alik interjecting periodically to clarify some details. He did not extrapolate on his combat with Alfons, though he took great pain to stress how skillful Seras had been, in an effort to throw the attention off of him. Perhaps it was selfish, but something about how Alucard and Sir Integra watched whatever he said suspiciously made him even more confused.

"Good job, you two. You may know return to your training." Integra waved them away, frowning significantly enough to notice, and began speaking with Alucard as the fledgelings left.

Seras turned to Alik, a strange expression on her face, and then left rather hurriedly. Alik's mood worsened. What was it with today? Why is everything so strange?

He walked around aimlessly, hoping to clear his thoughts. He had expected praise, perhaps even great praise, for the mission, as it had commenced quite smoothly, but had received none. Even a commendation of his (or Seras') abilities during the combat would have been preferable to the silent treatment that he now found himself facing.

What was he to do when he didn't even know the problem? How could he find a solution?

* * *

Again, I apologize for this one being a bit short. But I am curious to see what you guys think about the mission. I know that the vamipres' names weren't _actually_ Bethany and Alfons, but I invoked what little poetic license I have for that segment. Also, I decided on keeping Anderson as the Irish accent, so I apologize for this as well if you liked a Brit in his place. To be honest, Hellsing Ultimate Abridged's take on him was a lot more with what I originally thought he should sound like when I first read the manga, but anyways!

Rate and review, please! I could use comments! Even criticism! Trust me, it hurts me much more than it hurts you. Well, most of the time...

Stay tuned for Chapter VIII!


	8. Chapter VIII

HELLSING: ERADICATON  
CHAPTER VIII

Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing. Go figure.

Here it is finally! Chapter VIII! I apologize (again) for the time it took for such a chapter, especially because this is considerably shorter than what I originally planned, but I do hope that you enjoy this one. I know I enjoyed writing it, as I'm sure some of you will discover.

Without further ado,

Chapter VIII!

* * *

Alik awoke the following morning with a peculiar feeling. Seras was still in his mind. He had attempted to stop thinking of her in every way he knew possible, but she continued to persist in his memory. The way he had looked at her on the second mission, the way her eyes shone bright…

Action called to him earnestly, though Alik did not know exactly what action that was. Perhaps he should consult Seras. At the very least, it may give him something else to think about.

His decision somewhat hastily made, Alik walked out of his dormitory through the halls, trying to remember where Seras' was located. Upon reaching the door of her room, Alik deigned to politely knock, guessing that the custom would be less intrusive than barging in, despite his desire to do so.

"Who is it?" Seras inquired sleepily. Alik allowed himself a small grin. "It is I, Alik." At this, he heard Seras reply in a stammer of words. "Oh, uh, right! Coming!" This was followed by a bump, a thump, a few curses from Seras, and then the door opened.

In her haste to allow him entry, she had apparently tripped. "Not having any trouble here?" Alik's grin grew to a smile as he said this. Seras glared at him, though she also bore a smile as well. Eventually the smiles faded and Seras sat on a nearby chair while Alik leaned against the doorframe.

Seras made the first move to break the awkward silence. "So… why are you here?" Alik took a deep breath, steeled his nerves, and then spoke. "I wished to talk to you… about the mission." Seras looked away with what Alik assumed to be embarrassment. "Well I was…" She began, but Alik interrupted.

"No, you misunderstand. I… do not wish you to think that it was a… bad thing, it is simply…" His voice trailed off as his mind failed him. _Verdammt_! This was not how he thought it was going to happen!

"I do not regret it, Seras." She lifted her head, glancing up at him. "You don't?" Alik shook his head, then walked closer to Seras. "You are a remarkable _Fraulein_, Seras." By now his face was so close to hers, leaning ever nearer, slowly. He could hear her breathing, so close now…

An explosion rocked the room. The force of it threw Alik and Seras to the floor, and though Alik was not complaining as Seras grabbed onto him, it was a bit of a shock. Alik was however the first to recover and stand, finding a guard running down the hallway and into the room. "Master Alik! Master Alik! Intruders! Intruders in the-!"

His words became screams in a flurry of bullets that shredded him instantaneously, his limp body falling to the floor. Alik backed up, and then ducked back into Seras' room. He cursed as he realized that neither of his weapons were with him. He glanced at Seras, who pushed the two pistols that she had found on the mission into his hands.

He peeked out into the hallway. Four armored figures with shields and guns were approaching, ominously quite slow. Clad in what looked to be ceramic plating, purple glowed from where their eyes should have been.

As soon as they spotted Alik they began shooting. He yelled to Seras as he ducked into the hallway. "Seras! Find Integra! I'll handle these!" He dove into the fray, firing at the enemies with his own attacks, but this seemed to have little effect. The figures showed no indication of pain as they marched relentlessly towards him.

Alik switched tactics and rushed towards them, acting with such speed that he was sure they would not anticipate his move. He attempted to break the shields that the figures possessed with his fists, but ultimately this too was ineffective.

But the return fire was not. Bullets ran through his body, like the knives that the priest Anderson had thrown at him, each a sharp message of pain. Finally, he tried the last maneuver he thought might work against the… _things._ He fell to the ground.

The squad stopped firing, and what Alik assumed was the leader of the group stepped forward, prodding Alik's body with a booted kick, and then Alik made his move. He went straight for the figure's arm, managing this time to tear it off at a weak point in the ceramic armor. The blood rejuvenated him, and before the others could begin shooting again, Alik raced towards them as well.

A kick to the head of one figure proved to be fatal, and Alik's vision was now completely red. He was a blur of motion, a red haze of death and suffering. And then what seemed like a second later, his vision cleared. Alik looked around, somewhat disoriented. Bloodstains trickled slowly down the walls, corpses decorating the hallway like deserted furniture.

Alik knelt, intent on drinking of the fallen gunners, but then felt a curious sensation of dread. It was not something that he could place, something dangerous…

Alik stood and turned around. A man stood before him, an immaculate white suit adorning him, flowing blonde hair from his head, and chilling green eyes framed by spectacles on his face. He stepped towards Alik with a cigarette in hand.

"Having fun?" The man's voice was deep and resonant, though inherently tainted with a sneer. Alik said nothing, and at his silence the man's face twitched into an all-too-unfriendly smile.

"My name is Luke Valentine." The man spoke, though Alik was momentarily taken aback. "What kind of a name is that? Do not tell me Cupid is leading this army of intruders." Luke frowned.

"I was hoping for a civilized conversation here." Alik stood his ground, his face impassive and not betraying how weak he felt from blood loss. "So did I, and I apologize. But you did not answer my question."

Luke's frown vanished, a hint of mischief in his eyes. "I seek the one known as Alucard. Perhaps you know of him?" Alik's breath caught, stepping back. "What do you wish of my master?!"

Luke chuckled, now realizing that he was talking to a fledgeling. "So you _do_ know him! I had begun to fear my search was in vain. Excellent!" He snapped his fingers, and Alik glanced around. Incredibly, he saw several squads of the same armored figures with guns appear behind Luke.

Luke laughed as the figures opened fire. The pain was atrocious. Alik collapsed, and he heard Luke shout. "Enough! This one will be left for Jan!" The figures left, and Luke knelt next to Alik's body, turning it so that he could see his face. "Oh, and say hello to my brother for me, would you? I'd hate to think he was not enjoying himself."

Luke's laugh continued to echo in Alik's mind. He disappeared. Alik's sight faded to black and he lost consciousness.

* * *

Seras thundered down the hallways towards Sir Integra's quarters as fast as she could muster. She had long since left Alik's company at her dormitory, and evaded skirmishes between Hellsing's guards and the strange invaders.

She avoided so many of them that she assumed that it was a full-on war instead of a minor raid, but whoever they were, they were well trained, well-armed, and most importantly, dressed to kill.

Seras arrived at Sir Integra's door and knocked furiously, but received only silence. She knocked again, to similar effect. At last Seras opened the door, and finding the office vacant, she scanned the hallway. Integra was not present.

Had someone already told her of the attack? It wasn't likely. Seras turned again, finding Walter rushing down the hallway. "Walter! Walter!" She cried, and he turned in suit, quite quickly in fact, and had a questioning look as he approached.

"Miss Victoria? What is going on?" Seras took a deep breath. "The estate is under attack Walter! Soldiers are getting in!" Walter displayed an uncharacteristic look of surprise. "We must tell Sir Integra!"

Walter nodded. "If she is not in her office, then she must be present at the meeting with the knights. These soldiers must be hunting them. Come hither, Miss Victoria, we must make haste!" As Seras followed, she wondered if she had heard Walter correctly. Hither?

* * *

Jan Valentine walked through the once-clandestine hallways with an unusual feeling. He was bored. This feeling did not usually occur, especially when his brother Luke asked him for help with things.

And _especially_ not when Jan was allowed use of a foul smelling (though largely misunderstood) army of undead ghouls. The entire of thought being bored during an assault on the fortified citadel-esque estate of a sworn enemy was quite preposterous, even to Jan.

In fact, he would go as far to say that the probability of it was equal to Jan throwing a birthday party for Adolf Hitler whilst dressing up the aforementioned foul-smelling-though-largely-misunderstood army of undead ghouls as clowns lauded with kerosene and then proceeding to light them on fire.

…

On further analysis, this course of action seemed not as unlikely as Jan had previously thought. Something for the victory celebration perhaps.

Regardless, Jan's mood had turned for the worse as he had become accustomed to the rather hilarious pattern of reaching an intersection in the hallways and then firing at least twice in every direction, somehow still managing to hit something.

He had, of course, run out of living volunteers for such a task, and had taken to devouring every Hellsing guard that he was fortunate to come across, in an ultimately futile attempt to slate his ravenous appetite, but this too had unfortunately come to an end.

And so, Jan had since decided to kill time instead of people by pacing the halls, wondering of the worthlessness of such an activity.

And it wasn't as if Luke had given explicit instructions to Jan, mandating rather pompous desire to no harm a specific individual that Jan still couldn't even remember the name of. With a note of frustration, Jan realized Luke had probably done just that. In his defense, Luke was almost always a prick, especially for expecting Jan to follow some arbitrary command when there was killing to be done.

Jan's pacing continued. He had also stumbled across the slight conundrum of not having the faintest comprehensible idea of where his alleged target was or how to get there. This, while quite distressing on its own, was eclipsed by what Jan considered to be both a literally and metaphorically larger problem.

He had originally planned on destroying the estate with his foul-smelling-though-largely-misunderstood army of undead ghouls, but had since then had quickly discovered the party in question to be absent. How one could miss such a thing, Jan knew not the answer. Perhaps he should have tied cowbells to their necks as he had first thought.

All of this went through his mind as he passed the same blood stained corridor for what must have been the fifth time. This caused him to stop, not only because of his immense boredom, but also because of a revelation that seemed to take place.

Firstly, his shoe was untied. He knelt and rectified that problem. Secondly, in this hallway was a door that was labelled "Security Office", which in hindsight was most likely a slightly more pressing concern than his shoelaces.

Jan kicked open the door –there was no need for subtlety, after all- and walked inside, to be greeted by an array of blinking computer screens.

He smiled. A wide smile.

This would be a good day after all.

* * *

Seras ran with purpose. Though she doubted Sir Integra was without defense, she also had witnessed Alik's difficulty in dealing with the soldiers. That had not soothed her mood.

Frowning, she contemplated that thought. How was it even possible that Alik could be defeated so easily? It was not in the least likely an outcome, especially of light of his recent performance. This led Seras to another series of thoughts that she found most unsettling.

What if he was dead?

Seras almost stopped outright. She found that she did not like that thought much at all. She shook her head. Such things could not afford to be conceived of at a time like this. She _had_ to believe that he was alive, lest her sanity surely be compromised.

* * *

Finally, Seras and Walter arrived at what apparently was the conference room where the meeting was held. Walter attempted to unlocked the intricately-encrypted door at a tedious pace, but Seras's patience was now at an all-time low.

She kicked the door down with a fierce strike, and was greeted by the sight of a table of dignitaries headed by Sir Integra, who looked up quite suddenly.

"Thank God, Walter. What the bloody hell is going on here?! We've lost all contact with the guards-" Seras found herself unable to refrain from interrupting. "We're under attack by soldiers! They-they've already got Alik!"

Integra frowned, especially upon hearing Seras' voice faltering, but then turned to the apparent leader of the dignitaries. "Pardon me for a moment, sir. I have a call to make." Sir Integra rose from her chair, a pager in hand, and stepped into the hallway.

After an awkward silence followed by a none-too-suppressed string of profanities from Integra, Walter began to speak to Seras in a hushed tone. "Miss Victoria, did you get a good look at our invaders?"

Seras nodded. "They're heavily armored, with guns and shields. They seem to be pretty organised." At this Walter frowned. "I assume they are a paremilitary force, with an unknown agenda, and have infiltrated the entire estate. Most ominous indeed."

Further speech was interrupted by a howl of pain and more profanities coming from Integra, who rushed inside the conference room clutching her shoulder, where blood appeared to be pouring from.

"Sirs, prepare yourselves for lockdown! Seras, Walter, the enemy is here! Deal with them!" She took a deep breath, and then lowered her voice as she addressed Walter specifically. "I trust you already have a plan?"

Walter grinned and bowed. "I shall do as the butler does." He flexed his hands.

"And tidy up."

* * *

Seras drew her rifle and jumped into the hallway beside Walter as a security door rose to replace the ones she had broken down. Immediately a shower of bullets flew by, some grazing her shoulder. Cursing, she ducked into a side corridor. Walter dove to the opposite corridor, and then looked up.

The shots had ceased. Tentatively, Seras peered into the main hallway. There was a huge column of soldiers, their numbers impossible to discern, standing still and silent, gun barrels still smoking. Suddenly, the group parted in the center, allowing a lean figure to step among them.

He sported a dark suit and cap, befitting his olive skin and dark hair, carrying a large rifle in either hand. Wearing a mischievous and chaotic smile, the figure seemed to waltz towards the pair watching him.

"So, I come knocking on Hellsing's door and get the butler _and_ the maid? I'm impressed!" He grinned wider. "But fortunately for you two, I have to kill your boss first. Speaking of which, she should've gotten my message by now…"

* * *

Sir Integra was in the process of attempting to calm the various dignitaries when the flashing button indicating a call began to ring incessantly. She touched it, and the television screen on the wall flickered to life. A dark skinned figure in black garb appeared, holding the head of Romero the security chief in one hand.

"Hellooooo, Miss Hellsing Bitch! This is a message from the wonderfully amazing Jan Valentine, and I'm here to tell you something _very important_! To hear the message, press '1'. To commit suicide, press '2'. To grovel before your superior Jan Valentine before he kills you, press '3'. To escape this situation alive and well, press '10'."

One of the dignitaries cleared his throat. "But there are only nine buttons on the- oh…" The recording of Jan continued its message.

"If you pressed '1', congratulations! I'm about to play the message! And if you didn't, shut up and watch because I'm going to play it anyways."

"This is how it goes: I barge into your room, being fantastic with my army of foul smelling but largely misunderstood army of undead ghouls (which are actually quite nice once you get to know them), and begin shooting indiscriminately, so that at least a minimum of ten bullets pierces every organ in your body."

"Then I will proceed to devour the remains of the aforementioned organs until I am no longer hungry, and then I will burn down the entire Hellsing estate, perhaps the whole countryside. In fact, all of England in flames will do just nicely. Then I will continue my campaign of abject terror and kill everyone in my way as I see fit."

"Enjoy! Best wishes, Jan Valentine!" The screen turned off, and as one of the dignitaries fainted, Sir Integra then decided to take back control of the situation.

"All right everyone, listen up! Some crazy bastard has infiltrated the estate!" She pressed a red button under the table, and a wall spun around to reveal a stock of weapons that she had only in her wildest dreams ever thought of using.

"Everybody take a gun. If anyone opens that door without explicit permission from myself, you are all to open fire at once."

She grimaced. If Alucard knew about this, he would sure as hell never let her forget it.

* * *

Seras continued to watch the figure. She could tell he was a vampire, though something odd was about him. He smelled _different_, similar to how Bethany had before her rather timely demise. _There_, but also _not_ there.

The figure turned to her. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Jan Valentine, arse kicking extraordinaire, and it is my unexpected pleasure to be killing someone as beautiful and charming as yourself."

He bowed, which made Seras even angrier. "Sod off, you bastard!" She yelled, but to infuriate her more, Jan merely laughed. "Feisty! Excellent."

He turned to Walter. "And who are you? Alfred?" Walter grinned for the first time Seras recalled him.

"I am Walter C. Dornez, vampire slayer and butler to the Hellsing organization. I was once known as the angel of death, and despite opinions to the contrary, I think I have aged _quite_ well enough to know an idiot when I see one."

Jan's smile turned sour. "A polite one, are you? I always thought they died young… Anyways, without further ado, I present to you the foul-smelling-though-largely-, ah what the hell, just attack them already!"

On response the columns of ghouls began to open fire, though Walter only grinned and snapped his fingers. In the blink of an eye, what Seras thought must have been threads of light sprung from his fingertips, encircling themselves around his hands, and he moved forward.

"Ghouls are nice and all, Mister Valentine, but I think they might be a bit of a far cry from indestructible." Walter seemed to vanish, and at once all of the ghouls around Jan erupted in blood, as though dissected by some higher power.

Walter reappeared in front of Jan, who looked around in confusion as his ghouls fell to the ground. "Hmmm… it appears I have missed a spot. I suppose I am not a spry as I used to be. No matter." The threads began to dance around his hands again.

Jan appeared to lose his patience. "Ah, to hell with this! Shoot them!" He and his remaining army of ghouls opened fire on Walter, but he was too quick. Walter moved almost too fast for Seras to see, let alone being able to be hit.

More of Jan's ghouls were destroyed by the threads of light that Walter commanded. Jan's face contorted in rage, but when he spoke his voice remained dangerously calm. "Fine! I didn't need them anyways!" Suddenly he leaped into the air, spiraling backwards, and landing in the middle of the ghoul army, who simultaneously locked shields. "Kill 'em all!"

Walter sprinted back to cover as the hallway ignited with gunfire. "Miss Victoria, now would be a good time to-Miss Victoria!" Seras had made the mistake of attempting to fire upon the ghoul army with her rifle, only to meet the onslaught of bullets. She toppled over, managing to roll at the last second into the hallway where Walter was.

The pain was unbearable. All Seras could feel was the sting of each bullet where it had pierced her skin. Walter knelt next to her, an expression on his face that she had never seen before. He suddenly ducked into the hallway, throwing out his hand as though it was a fist. Seras could not see what he was doing, but as she looked up she found Walter carrying the arm of a ghoul.

He knelt again. "Drink of this limb. It is not pure, but it should fuel you long enough for this battle. Think of Alik. Avenge him. Bring us justice, Miss Victoria."

The thought of Alik jumpstarted Seras' adrenaline. Under normal circumstances, she would have wondered why Walter was acting as he was, but in her feverish mind of pain, nothing else mattered. Alik could be dead, and Jan was responsible. If she could just reach the limb…

The moment the pooling crimson touched her tongue, Seras' senses lit like wildfire. She could feel the pain, sharper than ever now, but it was bittersweet. She felt anger, even rage, at being injured by such mindless things as ghouls. Even as she consumed the contents of the limb, the footsteps of the now-marching ghouls was not lost on her.

And then the fury of Alik filled her soul. His agony would _not_ be left unanswered for. Vision became blood. Thoughts became blood. Everything was scarlet, and at that moment, Seras thought of nothing else but death for her enemies, to crush Jan beneath her and see his corpse broken as retribution.

Smiling beside herself, Seras shakily rose to her feet.

* * *

Alik awoke in a daze. At first, he questioned himself as to why he was on the floor instead of his sleeping coffin, but a quick look around reminded him of his situation. The defeated corpses of the soldiers jogged his memory, and the ambush outside Seras' dormitory reasserted itself freshly in his mind.

Alik twisted to find the nearest body. He felt so weak, but the blood beside him was so close that he could smell it. His tongue flicked out, and the flavor of the viscous red was almost paralyzing. He devoured the corpse, and felt some of his strength return to him.

He glanced around, finding more corpses, and fed himself until he felt quite revitalized, and with this return he had a chilling thought. How long had he been out? Though he obviously was not dead (yet), Luke had not thought him worthy enough of even a mercy killing. And where was everyone else?

Alik stood, fire beginning to seep through his veins. If they had harmed his master, the enemy would surely pay. And if they had hurt Seras…

Sprinting to reach Sir Integra's office, Alik swore vengeance on the heads of all the invaders.

* * *

Seras' fury capitalised when she stepped into the hallway. Curiously, the ghouls had ceased both their gunfire and marching, and Jan peered out from the insides of the army, his tall figure leering over the shorter ghouls.

"What have we here? Our little waitress come back from the dead! What're you going to do now, little girl? Serve me some food?" Seras growled.

"Go to hell!" Her voice was menacing, most likely the handiwork of her demon, but to her annoyance Jan did not seem to exhibit any particular concern. "Ha! Try saying that to this armour! Sixteen centimetres of ceramic plating! Hell, you can't even touch them with anything short of an anti-tank rifle!"

Seras grabbed the rifle from Walter's outstretched hands. "Will this do?" She pulled the trigger.

To her vampiric senses, the world seemed to explode. The single shot she had fired ripped through the army of ghouls. Blood and limbs cascaded everywhere, as did the bodies. The shields and plating were quite ineffective against the rifle she bore.

However, the bloodlust eventually consumed her. There was no need for weapons. Dropping the rifle Seras ran full speed towards the mob of ghouls, and the frenzy began. In hindsight, Seras did not know if she was impervious to harm while in such a state, or if she had simply been enabled by her demon to dodge every attack that was put against her.

Regardless, Seras felt the carnage empower her. She ripped and tore, ghouls falling every which way. Amidst the torrent of bloodshed she was only faintly aware of Jan's excessive shouts, presumably to command what was left of the horde.

Insane, sadistic laughter came from Seras. She did not try to stop it.

* * *

So... what do you think? I mean, other than finish the next part. This was the best place to put a chapter break (or I just really like writing cliffhangers), and rest assured, Luke will be much more prevalent in the next chapter, along with another certain surprise that I hope you'll enjoy.

Anyways, rate, review, read it again. All that good stuff.

Stay tuned for Chapter IX!


	9. Chapter IX

HELLSING: ERADICATION

CHAPTER IX

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hellsing. At all. Period.

I apologize again (I do that a lot, don't I?) for posting this later than I would have wanted. Exams have been everywhere lately, and I haven't had a lot of time to myself.

But anyways, here is the finale of the Hellsing Estate Invasion! It is unfortunately shorter than Chapter VIII, but I think that it is a very important chapter.

Enjoy Chapter IX!

* * *

Walter watched as the chaos exploded. Truth be told, he had not expected Seras to be nearly as destructive as he had imagined, but it worked to their advantage regardless. The ghoul army was in shambles, and meanwhile, Walter busied himself by looking around for Jan.

The suspect in question was somehow avoiding the anarchy that had taken over the hallway, and was currently sprinting down towards the conference room. Not to be flanked, Walter threw a pair of the micro-filament wires in his gloves at Jan, who appeared to not have noticed.

With a small smile and a tug, Walter ripped off Jan's arm, and surprisingly, Jan merely laughed in response and continued his stride. Walter pursued him swiftly. Jan could _not_ reach the door! The meeting must be preserved!

Jan reached the door. Walter cursed. However, as Jan kicked down the doors of the room, he was met with yet another surprise. Walter heard the room fill with the sounds of guns being drawn, and glancing at Sir Integra at the far end of the table, Walter noticed a smile.

Jan made no move, choosing instead to utter comically, "Huh. Should've seen that coming." Sir Integra nodded, and then yelled out to the dignitaries. "Open fire!"

Walter stepped back into the corridor as to avoid the hail of gunfire that resulted afterwards. He could hear Jan's protests as he was riddled, something that Walter found sadistically amusing. When the bullets ceased, he walked back into the conference room, finding Jan in a heap on the floor, but miraculously still alive.

Sir Integra approached him, kicking Jan with her shoe. "Who sent you?" Jan said nothing. Integra kicked him again, eliciting a grunt, but not anything else. She turned. "Walter. Help me." Walter reached down and took Jan's throat in his hand, lifting him with minor difficulty to the wall, and Sir Integra handed him a pistol.

"Now, you will tell me who sent you, or you will see why Walter was once known as the _Angel of Death_." At Sir Integra's words, Jan sneered. "Listen, queen bitch! I don't have to do _anything_! Even if I was scared of you, the one I serve would kill me if I told you!" Sir Integra seemed to lose more and more patience at every word.

"Fine. Walter?" Walter fired a shot into Jan's shoulder, and then dropped him. But as Walter was about to kick him again, Jan shockingly stood up. "You know what? It doesn't even matter!" Suddenly Jan burst into flames. Walter was taken aback. Was it some kind of trick?

"And now look at me! You think I'd tell you?!" Jan laughed. Walter took no more chances. He unloaded what was left of the pistol's ammunition into Jan, to no effect. Finally, Jan succumbed to the fire and fell, reduced to a pile of ashes.

Walter turned to Sir Integra. "What are we to do, Sir?" Integra glanced behind at the dignitaries before responding. "Get them to safety, Walter. Then we need to clean up this place." Sir Integra began pacing. "We may have won the battle, Walter…"

There was a pause. "Sir Integra?" Integra turned to him.

"But at what cost?"

* * *

Alik sprinted down the hallways. He had long since began hearing sounds of heavy combat, and as such, so grew his rising suspicions that Seras was in danger. Following the blood trails and gunfire, he found that the possibilities were not promising.

After a time that felt to Alik like hours, he reached a corridor of particular bloodshed. Mutilated soldiers, both of Hellsing's own and the strange invaders', adorned the walls like macabre furniture, and on the floor was a crater of ash that suggested to Alik an explosion had occurred.

The trail of gore and extraneous viscera continued elsewhere, however, and Alik had no choice but to follow. He renewed his haste as he heard the sounds of battle even clearer, feeling even more adrenaline pour into his veins.

Reaching the end of the hall, Alik was about to double back when his instincts screamed at him to duck. At once, he felt something large and heavy hit him, and he flew back against the wall. Struggling to see what had just happened, Alik looked at the projectiles, finding them to be… bodies. Of the invaders.

Glancing up the corridor, he found what he was looking for. The hallway had evidently been the main venue of the invasion, or at least the killcount presented this conclusion, and at the centerpiece of the menagerie of corpses was Seras Victoria.

She dashed, weaved, leaped, tore into the soldiers all around her. She was everywhere, slashing left and right with her bare hands, each appearing to Alik as deadly as any firearm. She destroyed the soldiers, ripping them apart, and yet amidst this wanton violence, Alik felt himself distracted.

The mission in Ireland came to his mind. It was nothing compared to the scene in front of him. Alik's vampiric senses were overwhelming him, taking precedence over his rationality at the sight of Seras' handiwork.

And when the blood spatters eventually reached him, Alik lost his restraint. His fangs elongated, his ears roared with the sounds of rushing adrenaline, and the world distorted.

This however, even in his diminished sense of logic, was confusing. Unlike his natural vampirism, in which the hues of red decorated his vision, everything now was devoid of color, save that of the blood coating the floors and the figure that was Seras.

Even stranger was her form, which was most noticeably glowing a shade of dark crimson, and somehow was even more stunning than Alik recalled.

She seemed to move but not move about the battlefield, in Alik's sight. It was odd, akin to something that he could not describe, something that he knew was there, but could not identify. At last, the final soldier fell to Seras, and she glanced around the hallway to survey the outcome.

To Alik, Seras continued to change. Even though she was a fair distance from him, he could see her face clearly. The eyes of red, the crazed look of her smile, all of it was somehow visible to him, and he could not resist.

Alik stood and felt drawn to her. He had thought her unescapable in Ireland, and how had he been wrong! He could not walk away. At his movement Seras glanced up at him, her eyes finally finding a kind of focus.

Alik heard whispers. He did not know what they were saying. And then, a voice rose above them, raspy and distorted. "_Alik_…" Alik realized that the voice was coming from Seras, but it did not match her. The urges he had fought at Ireland came back to him.

As he looked upon Seras, he could see her, and some…_thing_ beside her. It was like her, but most definitely _not_ human. He assumed it was her demon, and at this recognition he felt himself drawn even more. It was a pull beyond anything he had ever experienced, and the sheer amount of strangeness was bewildering.

Seras approached him. As she closed the distance, she stopped abruptly, tilting her head curiously, as though to get a better look at Alik, though he did not know why. Seras' demon echoed her motions, but with a haunting smile that Alik could not tell was mocking or amusing.

The words that came from Seras' mouth were hers, and as she spoke the demon vanished. "You're... alive…" Alik felt the pull again, so intense…

It happened quite fast, or at least fast enough for Alik to be surprised. Seras closed the gap between them, wrapping her arms around him. Stunned as he was, Alik felt the pull vanish. The physical contact felt so unusual, but as he let go of everything else in his mind, so _glorious_.

His senses went into overload. The blood that coated Seras was intoxicating, the coppery smell acting as a twisted kind of perfume, and the rapid breathing of Seras against him. He could feel her heart beating, so close they were, and found himself quite overwhelmed by it all.

Seras seemed to notice as well. After a short while, Alik heard her emit a sound that reminded him of a cat; a soft and contented feminine purr, something that Alik wished he could never disrupt.

And then something else happened. A warm, satisfied wave of emotion flooded over Alik, and the voice of his demon resounded in his mind.

"_All is as it should be._"

* * *

Luke Valentine walked down a very long staircase in a dimly lit descent. The lack of illumination was rather annoying, and contrasted with the splendor he had seen in the rest of the Hellsing estate. Fortunately, it told him that whatever lurked below did not wish to be disturbed; something that he thought was an indication of Alucard.

He recalled the relative ease in which he had been able to locate the entrance to this lair of sorts. It had been a search of yet another immaculate corridor, and when Luke had discovered a squad of guards clustered in the center of what appeared to be nothing, he had smiled.

His superior reflexes had served him well time and time again as he dispatched the squad to find the stairs hidden behind a portrait, and had since then been wondering what meeting Alucard would be like.

He had heard often of the tales of Alucard, the ultimate vampire, the No-Life King, and the deadliest force of his time. Luke hoped that age had at least dulled Alcuard's abilities, but then quickly perished such thoughts in favor of his own prowess.

Luke was quite proud of his skill, and similar thoughts carried him to the bottom of the stairway and into a vast chamber. Ominously, it seemed devoid of detail save for a singular light at the far end, where Luke made out an object in the distance.

He walked forward. Gradually, the shape of an elaborate chair came into view, and upon it a figure in red garb sat, looming over the chamber like a god. _"It must be Alucard_", Luke thought to himself. Resisting the urge to shiver in fear, he took a deep breath and braced himself. Before he could speak, a booming voice echoed into the room.

"Who are you?" Luke chanced a tentative smile, stepping forward, and looking into Alucard's face. The pale countenance beheld goggles of a brilliant orange, though Luke could sense the eyes behind them watching him suspiciously.

"You must be the great Alucard." Alucard displayed a slight frown at this pronouncement. "That does not answer my question."

Luke cleared his throat and continued as though Alucard had not spoken. "Alucard: the night walker, the lord of all vampires, slayer of mortals and gods, the one who drinks oceans of blood, and feeds on the-"

Luke abruptly stopped as Alucard chuckled, a harsh sound. "And here I thought you would be more than an adoring fan." Luke's temper flared, despite his worries of Alucard.

"I am no such thing! I am Luke Valentine! Assassin, hand crafted to kill or be killed, destined to destroy my master's enemies!" Using his reflexes and instinct, Luke drew his pistol and trained it to Alucard's forehead. At the same time, matching Luke's speed, Alucard steadied his own sidearm at Luke.

"Interesting, assassin. It appears that I have made enemies." The two of them fired at the same moment, dual resounding clashes of thunder amidst the sky, and two bullets flying through the air.

Blood covered Luke's vision, and though he did not know if it was his own, he felt pair sear as the impact knocked him backwards. Alucard slumped in his chair as Luke recovered.

But Luke was smarter than that. Even as he recoiled form the shot, he felt the wound sealing itself, the pain numbing, and the focus returning to his gaze.

Luke surveyed Alucard's form, which portrayed all qualities of a corpse, save for a chilling smile and an outstretched gun in hand. But Luke's confidence was not injured. He fired several more shots, each striking their target. He found himself growing pleased.

Nevertheless, logic dictated he take no chances. Backing away from the throne, he dodged a shot from Alucard, and Luke was again grateful for his godlike speed. He glided across the chamber, avoiding all of Alucard's bullets, and could not help feeling prideful.

"Ha! Is this all you possess to fight me Alucard?! Where is the terror?! Where is the agony?!"

But then everything went wrong. Luke credited this as underestimating Alucard, but he knew that in his mind it was his own fault. A bullet managed to pierce Luke's leg. The pain was excruciating, causing him to topple to the ground, blood spraying.

Luke struggled to get up as he heard Alucard's laughter behind him. Now was not the time to stand and fight! Now was the time to escape! Using the wall, Luke hopped on his good leg towards the stairs. If he could just reach them-

Another screaming blast of pain ruptured in his opposite leg. Luke fell, but tried his most valiant attempt to ignore the pain. He had to escape!

"Do you see now, Luke Valentine? Do you comprehend?" Alucard taunted him, and finally Luke turned around. Face to face was the snout of a canine, a massive swarming shape of red and black. Eyes of purest crimson stared into him, skin made of blood, and at the cry of a howl, a leap for the final kill.

And that was the last thing Luke Valentine saw.

* * *

Sir Integra walked with Walter out of the conference room, informing the dignitaries that the situation was now safe, but to remain in the room. It was not that she did not trust them (though she did not in the slightest), but Integra was unsure of any further enemy activity.

Even without Walter's carnage report, Integra was doubtful that any of the Hellsing soldiers able to perform their duty were still alive. The only consoling thought was due to an absence of combat ambiance, and Integra assumed that it was a good omen.

"Walter, after cleanup is finished, get our contacts on the mobile. I must speak with them about this." Walter confirmed his consent, and walked away, leaving Integra to proceed alone.

As she pondered over the death count, she took time to look over the battlefield. The amount of violence present was enough to unnerve her, and even more unsettling was the knowledge that one of her own had caused it.

Though she was proud that Seras was talented, it was still a cause for nervous anticipation. She knew that the training that Everett (who was most likely dead by now) had provided impacted Seras little in her vampiric state, if that was what it was.

The speed, though perhaps not the _finesse_ that was displayed with which the soldiers had been dispatched was impressive nonetheless. Integra assumed that Alik's absence during the attack on the conference room left the responsibility of defending the hall to Seras, suggesting that she had singlehandedly dealt with the ghoul army on her own. Again, Sir Integra allowed herself a glint of pride.

She walked on down the hall, surveying additional damage to the structure that she would inevitably have to pay for. But something else, something out of place, caught her attention. Something… quite unexpected.

What had ensnared her gaze was the shape of two figures intertwined about each other, standing in the center of the corridor, the shorter of the two laying its head on the shoulder of the taller one.

Integra recognized this as Seras and Alik, both of whom she noticed were saturated in blood, undoubtedly immersed into a stint of bloodlust, yet locked in a gesture of affection.

There were only two explanations for this scenario, and Sir Integra found neither of them favorable. Perhaps Walter's theory had been correct after all.

Something to tell Alucard, at any rate…

* * *

So... What do you think? Yay? Nay? Both?

The events between Seras and Alik will be explained, so don't worry. It's a turn that I have been wanting to take for a few chapters now, but the opportunity finally presented itself in this one, so... yeah.

Hopefully I'll get Chapter X (that sounds ominous...) up soon, so rate, review, enjoy!


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